






/ 



Copyright 1 n°_ 

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35p &bfcte jFattoell Proton 


SURPRISE HOUSE. Illustrated. 
KISINGTON TOWN. Illustrated. 

SONGS OF SIXPENCE. Illustrated. 

THEIR CITY CHRISTMAS. Illustrated. 

THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL. Illustrated. 
JOHN OF THE WOODS. Illustrated. 

FRESH POSIES. Illustrated. 

FRIENDS AND COUSINS. Illustrated. 
BROTHERS AND SISTERS. Illustrated. 
THE STAR JEWELS AND OTHER WON- 
DERS. Illustrated. 

THE FLOWER PRINCESS. Illustrated. 

THE CURIOUS BOOK OF BIRDS. Illustrated. 
A POCKETFUL OF POSIES. Illustrated. 

IN THE DAYS OF GIANTS. Illustrated. 
THE BOOK OF SAINTS AND FRIENDLY 
BEASTS. Illustrated. 

THE LONESOMEST DOLL. Illustrated. 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
Boston and New York 



Surprise House 








































































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“I DIDN’T!” PROTESTED JOHN. “IT WAS — SOMETHING, 
I DON’T KNOW WHAT — THAT SPOKE” {Page 19) 




SURPRISE 

HOUSE 


BY 


Abbie Farwell Brown 

4) 

With Illustrations 


Mil 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
<®be fiifcertfi&e pre$£ Cambridge 
1 9*7 



COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN COMPANY 
COPYRIGHT, I9I7, BY ABBIE FARWELL BROWN 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

Published October iqiy 



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0 Cl A 4 7 7 4 5 7 


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— And I as rich in having such a jewel 
As twenty seas , if all their sand were pearly 
The water nectary and the rocks pure gold. 



Contents 


I. The House i 

II. The Library io 

III. A Visitor .17 

IV. The Books 25 

V. Instructions 34 

VI. The Lantern 43 

VII. Caliban 50 

VIII. The Bust 58 

IX. The Attic 72 

X. The Portrait Points 84 

XI. Gems from Shakespeare .... 91 

XII. The Party 99 

Note : — Thanks are due to the publishers of The Young Churchman 
for courteous permission to reprint chapters of this book which appeared as 
a serial in that publication under the title of “ Aunt Nan’s Legacy.” 



Illustrations 


“ I DID N’t! ” PROTESTED JOHN. “It WAS SOME- 

THING, I DON’T KNOW WHAT — THAT SPOKE” 

Frontispiece 

“Oh, Katy, what do you suppose Aunt Nan 

MEANT THIS TIME ? ” 62 

Things that had been waiting through Gen- 
erations of Aunt Nan’s Ancestors for some 

ONE TO MAKE THEM USEFUL 80 

“Oh, they are very Beautiful,” said Mary 96 


From drawings by Helen Mason Grose. 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


CHAPTER I 

THE HOUSE 

O N the main street of Crowfield stood a little 
old red house, with a gabled roof, a pillared 
porch, and a quaint garden. For many weeks it 
had been quite empty, the shutters closed and 
the doors locked; ever since the death of Miss 
Nan Corliss, the old lady who had lived there for 
years and years. 

It began to have the lonesome look which a 
house has when the heart has gone out of it and 
nobody puts a new heart in. The garden was 
growing sad and careless. The flowers drooped 
and pouted, and leaned peevishly against one 
another. Only the weeds seemed glad, — as 
undisturbed weeds do, — and made the most 
of their holiday to grow tall and impertinent 
and to crowd their more sensitive neighbors 
out of their very beds. 

But one September day something happened 
to the old house. A lady and gentleman, a big 
girl and a little boy, came walking over the slate 

i 


SURPRISE HOUSE 

stones between the rows of sulky flowers. The 
gentleman, who was tall and thin and pale, 
opened the front door with a key bearing a huge 
tag, and cried: — 

“ Good-day, Crowfield! Welcome your new 
friends to their new home. We greet you kindly, 
old house. Be good to us !” 

“ What a dear house !” said the lady, as they 
entered the front hall. “I know I am going to 
like it. This paneled woodwork is beautiful.” 

“Open the windows, John, so that we can see 
what we are about,” said Dr. Corliss. 

John shoved up the dusty windows and pushed 
out the queer little wooden shutters, and a flood 
of September sunshine poured into the old house, 
chasing away the shadows. It was just as if the 
house took a long breath and w r oke up from its 
nap. 

“What a funny place to live in!” cried Mary. 
“It’s like a museum.” 

“Whew!” whistled John. “I bet we’ll have 
fun here.” 

The hallway in which they stood did, indeed, 
seem rather like the entrance to a museum, as 
Mary Corliss said. On the white paneled walls 
which Mrs. Corliss admired were hanging all 
sorts of queer things: huge shells, and ships in 
2 


THE HOUSE 


glass cases, stuffed fishes, weapons, and china- 
ware. On a shelf between the windows stood a 
row of china cats, blue, red, green, and yellow, 
grinning mischievously at the family who con- 
fronted them. On the floor were rugs of bright 
colors, and odd chairs and tables sprawled about 
like quadrupeds ready to run. 

“Gee!” whispered John Corliss, “don't they 
look as if they were just ready to bark and mew 
and wow at us? Do you suppose it's welcome 
or unwelcome, Daddy?” 

“Oh, welcome, of course!” said Dr. Corliss. 
“ I dare say they remember me, at least, though 
it's thirty years since I was in this house. Thirty 
years! Just think of it!” 

They were in the parlor now, which had been 
Miss Corliss's “best room.” And this was even 
queerer than the hallway had been. It was 
crowded with all sorts of collections in cabi- 
nets, trophies on the walls, pictures, and orna- 
ments. 

Dr. Corliss looked around with a chuckle. 
“Hello!” he cried. “Here are a lot of the old 
relics I remember so well seeing when I was a 
boy, visiting Aunt Nan in the summer-time. 
Yes, there's the old matchlock over the door; 
and here's the fire-bucket, and the picture of 
3 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


George Washington’s family. I expect Aunt Nan 
did n’t change anything here in all the thirty 
years since she let any of her relatives come to 
see her. Yes, there’s the wax fruit in the glass 
jar — just as toothsome as ever! There’s the 
shell picture she made when she was a girl. 
My! How well I remember everything!” 

They moved from room to room of the old 
house, flinging open the blinds and letting fresh 
air and sunshine in upon the strange furniture 
and decorations. Mrs. Corliss looked about 
with increasing bewilderment. How was she 
ever to make this strange place look like their 
home? Aunt Nan and her queer ways seemed 
stamped upon everything. 

“It’s a funny collection of things, Owen!” she 
laughed to her husband. “All this furniture is 
mine, I suppose, according to Aunt Nan’s will. 
But I am glad we have some things of our own 
to bring and make it seem more like a truly 
home. Otherwise I should feel, as Mary says, 
as if we were living in a kind of museum.” 

“We can change it as much as we like, by and 
by,” her husband reassured her. 

“What a funny old lady Great-Aunt Nan 
must have been, Daddy!” said John, who had 
been examining a hooked rug representing a blue 
4 


THE HOUSE! 

cat chasing a green mouse. “Did she make this, 
do you think ?” 

*“Oh, yes,” said Dr. Corliss. “I remember 
seeing her working at it. She hooked all these 
rugs. It was one of her favorite amusements. 
She was strange enough, I believe. I can remem- 
ber some of the weird things she used to do 
when I was a lad. She used to put on a man’s 
coat and hat and shovel coal or snow like any 
laborer. She was always playing tricks on some- 
body, or making up a game about what she 
happened to be doing. We must expect sur- 
prises and mysteries about the house as we 
come to live here. It would n’t be Aunt Nan’s 
house without them. — Hello!” 

£ John had sat down on a little three-legged 
stool in the corner; and suddenly he went bump! 
on the floor. The legs of the stool had spread as 
if of their own accord and let him down. 

“That was one of Aunt Nan’s jokes, I re- 
member!” laughed Dr. Corliss. “Oh, yes! I 
got caught myself once in the same way when 
I was a boy.” 

“Tell about it, Father,” said Mary. 

“Well; I was about your age, John, — about 
ten; and I was terribly bashful. One day when 
I was visiting Aunt Nan the minister came to 
5 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


call. And though I tried to escape out of the 
back door, Aunt Nan spied me and made me 
come in to shake hands. As soon as I could I 
sidled away into a corner, hoping he would for- 
get about me. 

“This innocent little stool stood there by the 
stuffed bird cabinet, just as it does now, and I 
sat down on it very quietly. Then bump ! I went 
on to the floor, just as John did. Only I was not 
so lucky. I lost my balance and kicked my heels 
up almost in the minister’s face. I can tell you 
I was mortified! And Aunt Nan laughed. But 
the minister was very nice about it, I will say. 
I remember he only smiled kindly and said, ‘A 
little weak in the legs, — eh, John? I’m glad 
my stool in church is n’t like that, Miss Corliss. 
I’d never trust you to provide me with furni- 
ture, — eh, what?’” 

“I don’t think that was a bit funny joke,” 
spluttered John, who had got to his feet looking 
very red. 

“Neither do I,” said his mother. “I hate 
practical jokes. I hope we shan’t meet any more 
of this sort.” 

“You never can tell!” Dr. Corliss chuckled 
reminiscently. 

“What a horrid mirror!” exclaimed Mary, 
6 


THE HOUSE 


peering into the glass of a fine gilt frame. “See! 
It makes me look as broad as I am long, and ugly 
as a hippopotamus. The idea of putting this in 
the parlor !” 

“ Probably she meant that to keep her guests 
from growing conceited/’ suggested Dr. Corliss 
with a grin. “ But we shall not need to have it 
here if we don’t like it. There’s plenty of room 
in the attic, if I remember rightly.” 

“Yes, we shall have to change a great many 
things,” said Mrs. Corliss, who had been moving 
about the room all by herself. “What do you sup- 
pose is in that pretty carved box on the mantel ?” 

“ It ’s yours, Mother. Why don’t you open it ? ” 
said John eagerly. 

Mrs. Corliss lifted the cover and started back 
with a scream. For out sprang what looked like 
a real snake, straight into her face. 

“Oh! Is it alive?” cried Mary, shuddering. 

But John had picked up the Japanese paper 
snake and was dangling it merrily to reassure 
his mother. “I’ve seen those before,” he grinned. 
“The boys had them at school once.” 

“Come, come!” frowned Dr. Corliss. “That 
was really too bad of Aunt Nan. She knew that 
almost everybody hates snakes, though she 
did n’t mind them herself. I ’ve often seen her 
7 


SURPRISE HOUSE ! 

put a live one in her pocket and bring it home to 
look at ” 

“Ugh!” shuddered Mrs. Corliss. “I hope 
they don’t linger about anywhere. I see I shall 
have to clean the whole house thoroughly from 
top to bottom. And if I find any more of these 
jokes — !” Mrs. Corliss nodded her head vigor- 
ously, implying bad luck to any snakes that 
might be playing hide and seek in house or 
garden. 

Secretly John thought all this was great 
fun, and he dashed ahead of the rest of the 
family on their tour of the house, hoping to find 
still other proofs of Aunt Nan’s special kind of 
humor. But to the relief of Mary and her 
mother the rest of their first exploring expedition 
was uneventful. 

They visited dining-room and kitchen and pan- 
try, and the room that was to be Dr. Corliss’s 
study. Then they climbed the stairs to the bed- 
room floor, where there were three pretty little 
chambers. They took a peep into the attic; but 
even there, in the crowded shadows and cobwebs, 
nothing mysterious happened. It was a nice old 
house where the family felt that they were going 
to be very happy and contented. 

Down the stairs they came once more, to the 
8 


THE HOUSE 


door of the ell which they had not yet visited. 
It was a brown wooden door with a glass knob.] 

“Well, here is your domain, Mary!” said Dr. 
Corliss, pausing and pointing to the door with a 
smile. “This is your library, my daughter. Have 
you the key ready?” 

Yes, indeed, Mary had the key ready; a great 
key tagged carefully, — as all the other keys of 
Aunt Nan’s property had been, — this one bear- 
ing the legend : “LIBRARY. Property of Mary 
Corliss.” 

“Here is the key, Father,” said Mary, stepping 
up proudly. “Let me put it in myself. Oh, 
I hope there are no horrid jokes in here!” 
And she hesitated a moment before fitting the 
key in the lock of her library — her very own 
library! 


CHAPTER II 


THE LIBRARY 


CCORDING to the will left by that eccen- 



il trie old lady, Miss Nan Corliss, her nephew. 
Dr. Corliss, — whom she had not seen for thirty 
years, — was to receive the old house at Crow- 
field. His wife inherited all the furniture of the 
old house, except what was in the library. John 
Corliss, the only grandnephew, was to have two 
thousand dollars to send him to college when he 
should be old enough to go. And to Mary, the 
unknown grandniece whom she had never seen, 
Aunt Nan had declared should belong “my li- 
brary room at Crowfield, with everything therein 
remaining.” 

Mary was now going to see what her library 
was like, and what therein remained. She drew 
a long breath, turned the key, pushed open the 
door, and peered cautiously into the room, half 
expecting something to jump out at her. But 
nothing of the sort happened. John pushed her 
in impatiently, and they all followed, eager, as 
John said, to see “what sister had drawn.” Dr. 
Corliss himself had never been inside this room, 
Aunt Nan’s most sacred corner. 


io 


THE LIBRARY 


What they saw was a plain, square room, with 
shelves from floor to ceiling packed tightly with 
rows of solemn-looking books. In one corner 
stood a tall clock, over the top of which perched 
a stuffed crow, black and stern. In the center 
of the room was a table-desk, with papers scat- 
tered about, just as Aunt Nan had left it weeks 
before. On the mantel above the fireplace was 
a bust of Shakespeare and some smaller orna- 
ments, with an old tin lantern. Above the 
Shakespeare hung a portrait of a lady with gray 
curls, in an old-fashioned dress, holding a book 
in her hand. The other hand was laid upon her 
breast with the forefinger extended as if point- 
ing. 

“ Hello !” said Dr. Corliss when he spied the 
portrait, “this is Aunt Nan herself as she looked 
when I last saw her; and a very good likeness 
it is.” 

“She looks like a witch!” said John. “See 
what funny eyes she has!” 

“Sh! John! You must n’t talk like that about 
your great-aunt,” corrected his mother. “She 
has been very good to us all. You must at least 
be respectful.” 

“She was eccentric, certainly,” said Dr. Cor- 
liss. “But she meant to be kind, I am sure. I 


ii 


SURPRISE HOUSE 7 


never knew why she refused to see any of her 
family, all of a sudden — some whim, I suppose. 
She came to be a sort of hermitess after a while. 
She loved her books more than anything in the 
world. It meant a great deal that she wanted 
you to have them, Mary.” 

“I wish she had left me two thousand dol- 
lars!” said Mary, pouting. “These old books 
don’t look very interesting. I want to go to col- 
lege more than John does. But I don’t suppose 
I ever can, now.” 

“ Books are rather useful, whether one goes to 
college or not,” her father reminded her. “She 
needn’t have left you anything, Mary. She 
never even saw you — or John either, for that 
matter. She had n’t seen me since I was mar- 
ried. I take it very kindly of her to have remem- 
bered us so generously. I thought her pet hos- 
pital would receive everything.” 

“What do you suppose became of her jew- 
elry, Owen?” asked Mrs. Corliss in an under- 
tone. “I thought she might leave that to Mary, 
the only girl in the family. But there was no 
mention of it in her will.” 

“She must have sold it for the benefit of her 
hospital. She was very generous to that char- 
ity,” said Dr. Corliss. 


12 


THE LIBRARY 


Mary and John had been poking about the li- 
brary to see if they could find anything “queer.” 
But it all seemed disappointingly matter-of-fact. 
They stopped in front of the tall clock which 
had not been wound up for weeks. 

“We ’ll have to start the clock, Father,” said 
Mary. “The old crow looks as if he expected us 
to” * 

“The key is probably inside the clock case,” 
said Dr. Corliss, opening the door. 

Sure enough, there was the key hanging on a 
peg. And tied to it was the usual tag. But in- 
stead of saying “Clock Key,” as one would have 
expected, this tag bore these mysterious words 
in the handwriting which Mary knew was Aunt 
Nan’s: “Look under the ravens wing .” 

“Now, what in the world does that mean?” 
asked Mary, staring about the room. “What 
did she mean by 'the raven,’ do you suppose?” 

“I guess she means the old crow up there,” 
cried John, pointing at the stuffed bird over the 
clock. 

“Do you suppose she meant that, Father?” 
asked Mary again, looking rather ruefully at the 
ominous crow. 

“Maybe she meant that,” said her father, 
sitting down in a library chair to await what 
13 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


would happen. “But I believe this is another 
of Aunt Nan’s little jokes. It sounds so to me.” 

“Pooh! It’s just an old April Fool, I bet!” 
jeered John. 

Mary still stared af what Aunt Nan called 
“the raven,” and wondered. “Under which 
wing am I to look?” she thought. Finally she 
gathered courage to reach up her hand toward 
the right wing, very cautiously. She half ex- 
pected that the creature might come alive and 
nip her. But nothing happened. There was 
nothing under the right wing but moth-eaten 
feathers, some of which came off in Mary’s fin- 
gers. 

“I’ll try the other wing,” said Mary to her- 
self. She poked her fingers under the old bird’s 
left wing. Yes! There was something there. 
Something dangled by a hidden string from the 
wing-bone of Aunt Nan’s raven. Mary pulled, 
and presently something came away. In her 
hand she held a little gold watch and chain. 
On the case was engraved the letter C, which 
was of course as truly Mary’s initial as it had 
been Aunt Nan Corliss’s. 

“Why, it is Aunt Nan’s watch, sure enough!” 
said Dr. Corliss, beaming. “Well, Mary! I de- 
clare, that is something worth while. You 

14 


THE LIBRARY 


needed a watch, my dear. But I don’t know 
when I could ever have bought a gold one for 
you. This is a beauty.” 

"It’s a bird of a watch !” piped John, wagging 
his head at the crow. 

“I like it better than wriggly snakes,” said 
Mrs. Corliss, smiling. 

“Oh, how good Aunt Nan was to leave it here 
for me!” said Mary. “I am beginning to like 
Aunt Nan, in spite of her queerness.” 

“I like this kind of joke she plays on you,” 
said John enviously. “I wish she’d play one 
like that on me, too. I say, Mary, do you sup- 
pose there are any more secrets hidden in your 
old library? Let’s look now.” 

“I wonder!” said Mary, looking curiously 
about the dingy room. “But I don’t want to 
look any further now. I am satisfied. Oh, Mum- 
sie! Just look!” Mary put the chain of the new 
watch around her neck, tucked the little chro- 
nometer into her belt, and trotted away to see 
the effect in the crooked old mirror of the par- 
lor. 

John wanted to take down the crow and exam- 
ine him further. 

“Come along, John,” said his father, pushing 
the little brother toward the door. “This is 
15 


SURPRISE HOUSE 

Mary’s room, you know. We are n’t ever to 
poke around here without her leave, mind 
you.” 

“No,” said John reluctantly. “But I do 
wish — !'” And he cast a longing glance back 
over his shoulder as his father shut the door on 
Mary’s mysterious library. 


CHAPTER III 

A VISITOR 

T HE very next day Dr. Corliss shut himself 
up in his new study while Mrs. Corliss and 
Mary set to work to make the old house as fresh 
as new. They brushed up the dust and cobwebs 
and scrubbed and polished everything until it 
shone. They dragged many ugly old things off 
into the attic, and pushed others back into the 
corners until there should be time to decide what 
had best be done with them. Meanwhile, John 
was helping to tidy up the little garden, snip- 
ping off dead leaves, cheering up the flowers, 
and punishing the greedy weeds. 

The whistles of Crowfield factories shrieked 
noon before they all stopped to take breath. 
Then Mrs. Corliss gasped and said: — 

“Oh, Mary! I forgot all about luncheon! 
What are we going to feed your poor father with, 
I wonder, to say nothing of our hungry selves?” 

Just at this moment John came running into 
the house with a very dirty face. “There’s some 
one coming down the street,” he called upstairs; 
“I think she’s coming in here.” He peeped out 
1 7 


SURPRISE HOUSE 

• 

of the parlor window discreetly. “Yes, she’s 
opening the gate now.” 

“Let Mary open the door when she rings,” 
warned his mother. “It will be the first time 
our doorbell rings for a visitor — quite an event, 
Mary! I am sure John’s face is dirty.” 

“I’m not very tidy myself,” said Mary, tak- 
ing off her apron and the dusting-cap which cov- 
ered her curls, and rolling down her sleeves. 

The latch of the little garden gate clicked while 
they were speaking, and looking out of the up- 
stairs hall window Mary saw a girl of about her 
own age, thirteen or fourteen, coming up the 
path. She wore a pretty blue sailor suit and a 
broad hat, and her hair hung in two long flaxen 
braids down her back. Mary wore her own brown 
curls tied back with a ribbon. On her arm the 
visitor carried a large covered basket. 

“It’s one of the neighbors, I suppose,” said 
Mrs. Corliss, attempting a hasty toilet. “Go to 
the door, Mary, as soon as she rings, and ask her 
to come in. Even if we are not settled yet, it is 
not too soon to be hospitable.” 

Mary listened eagerly for the bell. Their first 
caller in Crowfield looked like a very nice little 
person. Perhaps she was going to be Mary’s 
friend. 

18 


A VISITOR 

But the bell did not ring. Instead, Mary pre- 
sently heard a little click; and then a voice in 
the hall below called, apparently through the 
keyhole of the closed door, — “Not at home.” 

There was a pause, and again, — “Not at 
home.” A third time the tired, monotonous 
voice declared untruthfully, “Not at home.” 
Then there was silence. 

“John!” cried Mary, horrified. For she 
thought her brother was playing some naughty 
trick. What did he mean by such treatment of 
their first caller? Mary ran down the stairs two 
steps at a time, and there she found John in the 
hall, staring with wide eyes at the front door. , 

“What made you — ?” began Mary. 

“I didn’t!” protested John. “It was — 
Something, I don’t know What, that spoke. 
When she pushed the bell-button it did n’t ring, 
but it made that. And now I guess she’s gone off 
mad!” 

“Oh, John!” Mary threw open the door and 
ran to the porch. Sure enough, the visitor was 
retreating slowly down the path. She turned, 
however, when she heard Mary open the door, 
and hesitated, looking rather reproachful. She 
was very pretty, with red cheeks and bright 
brown eyes. 


19 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


“Oh! Pm so sorry !” said Mary. “You did n’t 
ring, did you?” 

“Yes, I did,” said the girl, looking puzzled. 
“But I thought no one was at home. Some- 
body said so.” Her eyes twinkled. 

Mary liked the twinkle in her eyes. 

“I don’t understand it!” said Mary, wrinkling 
her forehead in puzzlement. Then an idea 
flashed into her head, and she showed her teeth 
in a broad smile. “Oh, it must have been one 
of Aunt Nan’s patent jokes.” 

The girl gave an answering smile. “You 
mean Miss Corliss?” she suggested. “I know 
she did n’t like callers. We never ventured to 
ring the bell in her day. But Mother thought 
you new neighbors might be different. And I 
saw you going by yesterday, so I thought I’d 
try — ” She looked at Mary wistfully, with a 
little cock to her head. “ My name is Katy Sum- 
mers, and we are your nearest neighbors,” she 
added. 

“Oh, do come in,” urged Mary, holding open 
the door hospitably. “ It is so nice to see you ! I 
am Mary Corliss.” 

Katy Summers beamed at her as she crossed 
the doorsill. And from that moment Mary hoped 
that they were going to be the best of friends. 

20 


A VISITOR 


John appeared just then, much excited and 
forgetting his dirty face. “It must be a kind of 
graphophone,” he said, without introduction. 
“Let me punch that button.” 

Twisting himself out into the porch, John 
pushed a dirty thumb against the bell-button 
of the Corliss home. Instantly sounded the 
same monotonous response, — “Not at home — 
Not at home — Not at home.” 

“I say! Is n’t it great!” shouted John, cutting 
a caper delightedly. “Aunt Nan must have had 
that fixed so as to scare away callers. Was n’t 
she cute?” 

Mary blushed for her brother, and for the 
reputation of the house. “It was n’t cute!” she 
said hastily. “We shall have to get that bell 
changed. We are n’t like that, really,” she ex- 
plained to her visitor. “We love to see people. 
You were very good to come to this inhospitable 
old house.” 

“I wanted to,” said 'Katy simply, “and 
Mother thought you’d perhaps all be busy this 
morning, getting settled. So she sent you over 
this hot luncheon.” And she held out to Mary 
the heavy basket. 

“Oh, how kind of you!” cried Mary. “Let 
me tell Mother. She will be so pleased ! It is so 
21 


SURPRISE HOUSE 

nice to have our nearest neighbor call on us 
right away.” 

“I can't stop but a minute this time,” said 
Katy, “for my own luncheon is waiting on the 
table. But I'd like to see your mother. I'll 
wait here in the hall.” 

At the end of the hall facing the front door 
was an armchair with a back studded with brass 
nails. Katy sat down in this chair to wait for 
Mrs. Corliss. Mary ran up the stairs feeling 
very happy, because already she had found this 
new friend in the town where she was afraid she 
was going to be lonesome. 

But hardly had she reached the top of the 
stairs when she heard a funny little cry from 
the hall below. It was Katy’s voice that called. 
“Oh!” it cried. “Help! Mary Corliss!” 

“What is it?” called Mary, leaning over the 
banisters to see what the matter was. 

And then she saw a queer thing. The chair 
in which Katy Summers sat was moving rapidly 
of its own accord straight toward the front door. 
Katy was too startled to move, and there she sat, 
grasping the arms of the chair, until it reached 
the doorsill. When it touched the sill, the chair 
stopped and gently tilted itself forward, mak- 
ing Katy slide out, whether she would or no. 

22 , 


A VISITOR 


“Well, I never!” said Katy with a gasp. 
“If that is n’t the impolitest chair I ever 
saw!” 

“Oh, Katy!” cried Mary, flying down the 
stairs. “I am so sorry. We did n’t know it was 
that kind of chair. We had n’t cleaned the hall 
yet, so we never suspected. It must be another 
of Aunt Nan’s jokes. She probably had this 
made so that peddlers or agents who got inside 
and insisted on waiting to see her would be dis- 
couraged. Please don’t blame us!” 

Then down came Mrs. Corliss, with Katy’s 
basket in her hand. “What a reception to our 
first caller!” she said with a rueful smile. “And 
you came on such a kind errand, too ! But you 
must try to forget, little neighbor, that this was 
ever an inhospitable house, and come to see us 
often. We are going to change many things.” 

“Yes, indeed, I shall come again,” said Katy 
Summers. “I hope that Mary and I shall be in 
the same class at High School.” 

“So do I,” said Mary. “I begin to-morrow. 
Will you call for me so that I can have some one 
to introduce me on my first day?” 

“Yes,” said Katy, with a roguish look, “if 
you’ll let me wait for you in the garden.” 

Mary turned red. “You need n’t be afraid,” 

23 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


she said. “We won’t let those things happen 
any more, will we, Mother?” 

“No,” said Mrs. Corliss. “We will have the 
carpenter attend to those ‘ jokes’ at once.” 

But until the carpenter came John had a beau- 
tiful time riding down the front hall on the in- 
hospitable chair, and making the automatic 
butler cry, “Not at home.” John thought it a 
great pity to change these ingenious devices 
which made the front hall of Aunt Nan’s house 
so interesting. But he was in the minority, and 
that very afternoon the carpenter took away an 
electric device from the old armchair, which 
ended its days of wandering forever. And in- 
stead of the “bell” he put an old-fashioned 
knocker on the front door. t 


CHAPTER IV 

THE BOOKS 

T HE town of Crowfield was built on a swift- 
flowing river with a waterfall, which gave 
it strong water-power. So the houses were easily 
fitted with electricity. Even the old Corliss 
mansion was up to date in that respect, at least. 
This was why Aunt Nan had been able to cany 
out her liking for queer devices and unexpected 
mechanical effects, as Mr. Griggs, the carpen- 
ter, explained when he came to make more hos- 
pitable the front hall. He chuckled over the 
moving chair, the secret of which was a spring 
concealed under one of the brass nail-heads. 
Any one who sat down and leaned back was sure 
to press this button, whereupon the chair would 
begin to move. 

“It beats all how clever that old lady was!” 
said Mr. Griggs. “I never saw anything like 
this before. She must ’a’ got some electrician 
down from the city to fix this up for her. We 
don’t do that kind of job in Crowfield.” 

“Do you suppose there are any more such 
things about the house?” inquired Mrs. Cor- 
liss anxiously. 


2S 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


“I’ll take a look,” said Mr. Griggs. “But I 
might n’t find ’em, even so.” 

And he did not find them; Aunt Nan had her 
secrets carefully concealed. But for weeks the 
family were continually discovering strange new 
surprisesdn their housekeeping. 

That very night at supper, just after Mr. 
Griggs had left the house with his kit of tools, a 
queer thing happened. They were sitting about 
the round dining-table, the center of which, as 
they had noticed from the first, seemed to be a 
separate inlaid circle of wood. In the middle of 
this Mary had set a pretty vase of flowers — 
nasturtiums, mignonette, marigolds, and yellow 
poppies, the last lingerers in their garden. 

They were talking about their first day in 
Crowfield, about the visit of Katy Summers, 
and the funny things that had happened to their 
first caller; and they were all laughing merrily 
over Mary’s description of how Katy had looked 
when she went riding out toward the door in the 
inhospitable chair. Dr. Corliss had just reached 
out his hand for the sugar. Suddenly the table 
center began slowly to revolve, and the sugar 
bowl retreated from his hand as if by magic. 

“Well, I never!” said the Doctor. “This is a 
new kind of butler’s assistant!” 

26 


THE BOOKS 


“It makes me feel like Alice in Wonderland !” 
exclaimed Mary. “It is the Mad Hatter’s 
breakfast; only instead of every one’s moving 
on one place, the place moves on by itself! ” 

They found that Mary had hit her knee by 
accident against a spring concealed under the 
table. 

“Aunt Nan lived here all alone,” said Mrs. 
Corliss, “and I dare say she found this an easy 
way to pass things to herself when she was eat- 
ing her lonely meals.” 

“Let’s keep it like this,” said Mary. “Now 
I shan’t be needing always to ask John to 
pass the salt.” 

“I don’t think it’s fair!” protested John. 
“Now, Mary has the seat by the button, and 
she can make the table turn when she likes. I 
wish I had a button, too.” 

“You’d keep the table whirling all the time, 
John,” laughed his father. “No, it is better as 
it is. We chose our seats this way, before we 
knew about the lively center-piece. Let’s stick 
to what chance gave us. Aunt Nan’s house seems 
to be a kind of good-luck game, does n’t it?” 

But in spite of the queer things that were con- 
tinually happening there, it did not take long for 
the Corliss family to feel quite at home in this 
27 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


old house, and in Crowfield. Mary was admitted 
to the High School, and found herself in the 
same class with Katy Summers, which pleased 
them both very much. They soon became the 
closest chums. John went to the Grammar 
School, where he found some nice boys of his 
own age who lived just down the road; Ralph 
and James Perry, cousins in opposite houses, 
and Billy Barton a little farther on. 

These promptly formed the Big Four; and the 
neighborhood of the Big Four was the liveliest 
in town. The Corliss house, with its collections 
and curiosities, became their favorite meeting- 
place, and in these days could hardly recognize 
itself with the merry streams of children who 
were always running in and out, up and down 
the stairs. It was fortunate that Dr. Corliss, 
who kept himself shut up in his study with the 
book he was writing, was not of a nervous or 
easily distracted temperament. 

As for Mrs. Corliss — being a mother, she just 
smiled and loved everybody. It was her idea 
that first of all a home should be a happy place 
for the family and for every one who came 
there. The first thing she did was to send for 
the familiar furniture of the city house which 
they had left when Dr. Corliss was obliged to 
28 


THE BOOKS 


give up his professorship in college and move 
into the country. Now the queer rooms of 
Aunt Nan’s inhospitable old house were much 
less queer and much more homelike than they 
had ever been, and every corner radiated a 
merry hospitality. 

But in the library nothing was changed. Mary 
would not let anything be moved from the place 
in which Aunt Nan had put it. For she had 
grown much attached to the old lady’s memory, 
since the finding of that little watch and chain. 

You may be sure that Mary and John looked 
about the library carefully, to see if more of 
the same kind of nice joke might not be con- 
cealed somewhere. But they found nothing. It 
was not until nearly a week later, when there 
came a rainy Saturday, that they found time 
to look at the books themselves. 

“ Hello! Here’s a funny book to find in an 
old lady’s library!” cried John. “It’s our old 
friend ‘Master Skylark,’ one of the nicest books 
I know. But how do you suppose a children’s 
book came to be here, Mary? Daddy says for 
years Aunt Nan never allowed any children in 
the house.” 

“I wonder!” said Mary. “And here’s an- 
other child’s book, right here on the desk. I 
29 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


noticed it the first time I came in here, but I 
never opened it before. ‘Shakespeare the Boy’ 
is the name of it. I wonder if it is interesting? 
I like Shakespeare. We read his plays in school, 
and once I wrote a composition about him, you 
know.” 

“ Papa says Aunt Nan was crazy about Shake- 
speare,” said John. 

“Why, here’s a note inside the cover of the 
book, addressed to me!” said Mary wonderingly. 

“Let me look!” cried John, darting to her side. 
“Yes, it’s in that same handwriting, Mary. It’s 
a letter from Aunt Nan. Do hurry and open it ! ” 

Mary held the envelope somewhat dubiously. 
It was not quite pleasant to be receiving letters 
from a person no longer living in this world. 
She glanced up at the portrait over the mantel 
as she cut the end of the envelope with Aunt 
Nan’s desk shears, and it seemed to her that the 
eyes under the prim gray curls gleamed at her 
knowingly. She almost expected to see the long 
forefinger of the portrait’s right hand point di- 
rectly at her. 

It was a brief letter that Aunt Nan had writ- 
ten; and it explained why she had left her library 
of precious books to this grandniece Mary whom 
she had never seen. 


30 


THE BOOKS 


Mary Corliss (it began) : I shan’t call you dear 
Mary because I don’t know whether you are dear 
or not. You may be if you like the sort of things 
I always liked. And in that case I shall be glad 
you have them for your own, when I can no longer 
enjoy them. I mean the things in this room, which 
I have given all to you, because there is no one 
else whom I can bear to think of as handling them. 
I heard your father say once that he hated poetry. 
That was enough for me! I never wanted to see 
him again. He can have my house, but not my 
precious books. Well, I read in the paper which 
your mother sent me that you had won a prize at 
school for a composition about William Shake- 
speare, the greatest poet who ever lived. You have 
begun well! If you go on, as I did, you will care 
as I have cared about everything he wrote. So 
you shall have my library and get what you can 
out of it. Be kind to the books I have loved. 
Love them, if you can, for their own sake. 

Your Great-Aunt, 

Nan Corliss. 

“What a queer letter !” said John. “So it 
was your composition that did it. My! Are n’t 
you lucky, Mary!” 

“I do like Shakespeare already,” said Mary, 
glancing first at Aunt Nan’s portrait, then at the 
bust of the poet below it. “And I guess I am 
going to like Aunt Nan.” She smiled up at the 
portrait, which she now thought seemed to 
smile back at her. “I must go and tell Father 
3i 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


about it,” she said eagerly, running out of the 
room; and presently she came back, dragging 
him by the hand. 

“Well, Mary!” said Dr. Corliss. “So it was 
your Shakespeare^ essay that won you the 
library! I remember how fond Aunt Nan used 
to be of the Poet. She was always quoting 
from him. I am glad you like poetry, my dear; 
though for myself I never could understand it. 
This is, indeed, a real poetry library. I am glad 
she gave it to you instead of to me, Mary. There 
are any number of editions of Shakespeare here, 
I have noticed, and a lot of books about him, 
too. I suppose she would have liked you to read 
every one.” 

“I mean to,” said Mary firmly. “I want to; 
and I am going to begin with this one, ‘Shake- 
speare the Boy/ I feel as if that was what she 
meant me to do.” 

As she said this Mary began to turn over the 
leaves of the book in which she had found the 
note from Aunt Nan. “The story sounds very 
nice,” she said. 

Just then something fell from between the 
leaves and fluttered to the floor. Her father 
stooped to pick it up. 

“Aunt Nan’s bookmark,” he said. “It would 
32 


THE BOOKS 


be nice to keep her marks when you can, Mary. 
Why!” he exclaimed suddenly, staring at what 
he held in his fingers. It was long and yellow, 
and printed on both sides. 

“Mary!” he cried, “did you ever see one of 
these before ? I have never seen many of them 
myself, more’s the pity!” And he handed the 
“bookmark” to his daughter. 

It was a hundred-dollar bill. 

“Papa!” gasped Mary, “whose is it?” 

“It is yours, Mary, just as much as the watch 
and chain were; just as much as the library is,” 
said her father. “Everything in the room was 
to be yours ; Aunt Nan said so in her will. This 
is certainly a part of your legacy. I wonder if 
Aunt Nan forgot it or put it there on purpose, 
as another of her little jokes?” 

“I think she put it there on purpose,” said 
John. “My! But she was a queer old lady!” 

“I think she was a very nice old lady,” said 
Mary. “Now I must go and tell Katy Summers 
about it.” 


CHAPTER V 

INSTRUCTIONS 

W ITH the hundred dollars which she had 
found in the book Mary started an account 
in the Crowfield Savings Bank, under her own 
name. She was veiy proud of her little blue 
bank-book, and she hoped that some time, in 
some unexpected way, she would save enough 
money to go to college, as John was to do. 

But the outlook was rather hopeless. The 
Corliss family were far from well off. Even in 
Crowfield, where expenses were low, they had 
a hard time to live on the small income from 
what Dr. Corliss had managed to save while he 
was Professor of Philosophy in the city college. 
Dr. Corliss was writing a book which he hoped 
would some day make his fortune. But the book 
would not be finished for many a day. Mean- 
while, though there was very little money com- 
ing in, it was steadily going out; as money has 
a way of doing. 

The best thing the family could do at present 
was to save as much as possible by going with- 
out servants and dainties and fine clothes — 
34 


INSTRUCTIONS 


just as people have to do in war-time; and by- 
doing things themselves, instead of having things 
done for them. Mrs. Corliss was a clever man- 
ager. She had learned how to cook and sew and 
do all kinds of things with her deft fingers; and 
Mary was a good assistant and pupil, while 
John did everything that a little boy could do 
to help. He ran errands and built the fires, and 
even set the table and helped wipe the dishes 
when his mother and sister were busy. 

The neighbors were very friendly, and there 
were so many pleasant new things in Crowfield 
that the family did not miss the pleasures they 
used to enjoy in the city, nor the pretty clothes 
and luxuries which were now out of the ques- 
tion. And Mary did not spend much time worry- 
ing about college. There would be time enough 
for that. 

After the finding of that hundred-dollar bill, 
Mary and John spent a great deal of time in 
opening and shutting the leaves of books in the 
library, hoping that they would come upon 
other bookmarks as valuable as that first one. 
But whether Aunt Nan had left the bill there 
by mistake, as Dr. Corliss imagined, or whether 
she had put it there on purpose, as Mary liked 
to think, apparently the old lady had not re- 
35 


• SURPRISE HOUSE 

peated herself. The only foreign things they 
found in the musty old volumes were bits of 
pressed flowers and ferns, and now and then a 
flattened bug which had been crushed in its 
pursuit of knowledge. 

John soon grew tired of this fruitless search. 
But Mary came upon so many interesting things 
in the books themselves that she often forgot 
what she was looking for. Many of the books 
had queer, old-fashioned pictures; some had 
names and dates of long ago written on the fly- 
leaf. In many Mary found that Aunt Nan had 
scrawled notes and comments — sometimes 
amusing and witty; sometimes very hard to 
understand. 

Mary loved her library. She had never before 
had a corner all to herself, except her tiny bed- 
room. And to feel that this spacious room, with 
everything in it, was all hers, in which to do 
just as she pleased, was a very pleasant thing. 

“Where’s Mary?” asked Katy Summers one 
afternoon, running into the Corliss house with- 
out knocking, as she had earned the right to do. 

“I think she is in the library,” said Mrs. Cor- 
liss, who was busy sewing in the living-room. 
“That is a pretty likely place in which to look 
nowadays, when she is n’t anywhere else ! ” 

36 


INSTRUCTIONS 


“Shall I go there to find her?” asked Katy. 

“Yes, Dear; go right in,” said Mrs. Corliss. 
“She will be glad to see you, I am sure.” 

The door of the library was hospitably open. 
And Katy Summers, creeping up on tiptoe and 
peeping in softly, saw Mary with her thumb 
between the leaves of a book, kneeling before 
one of the bookshelves. 

“I spy!” cried Katy. “What’s the old Book- 
worm up to now? Or perhaps I ought to say, 
considering your position, what’s she down to 
now?” 

Mary jumped hastily to her feet. “Hello, 
Katy,” she said cordially. “I was just looking 
up something. Say, Katy, do you know what 
fun it is to look up quotations?” 

“No,” said Katy, laughing. “I don’t see any 
fun in that. No more fun than looking up things 
in a dictionary.” 

“Well, it is fun,” returned Mary. “I think I 
must be something like Aunt Nan. She loved 
quotations. Just look at this row of 'Gems from 
the Poets.’ They’re full of quotations, Katy. 
I ’m going to read them all, some time.” 

“Goodness!” cried Katy. “What an idea! I 
think poetry is stupid stuff, sing-song and silly.” 

“So Daddy thinks,” said Mary. “But it 
37 


SURPRISE HOUSE 

is n’t, really. It is full of the most interesting 
stories and legends and beautiful things. This 
library bores Daddy almost to death, because 
all the books on these two walls are poetry. I 
believe that Aunt Nan had the works of every 
old poet who ever wrote in the English language. 
And see, these are the lives of the poets.” She 
pointed to the shelves in one corner. 

“Huh!” grunted Katy. “Well, what of it?” 

“Well, you see,” said Mary, looking up at 
Aunt Nan’s portrait, “the more I stay in this 
library, the more I like Aunt Nan’s books, and 
the more I want to please Aunt Nan herself. I 
like her, Katy.” 

“I don’t!” said Katy, eyeing the portrait side- 
ways. “You never had her for a neighbor, you 
see.” 

“She never did anything to you, did she?” 
asked Mary. 

“No-o,” drawled Katy reluctantly. “She 
never did anything either good or bad to me. 
But — she was awfully queer!” 

“Of course she was,” agreed Mary. “But 
that is n’t the worst thing in the world, to be 
queer. And she was awfully kind to me. — 
Say, Katy, don’t you like Shakespeare?” 

“Not very well,” confessed Katy. 

38 . 


INSTRUCTIONS 


“Well, I do,” Mary asserted. “I haven’t 
read much of him, but I’m going to. Every 
time I look at that head of Shakespeare on the 
mantelpiece, I remember that it was my com- 
position about Shakespeare that was at the bot- 
tom of almost everything nice that has hap- 
pened in Crowfield. Why, if it had n’t been for 
him, perhaps we should n’t have come to live 
here at all, and then I should n’t ever have 
known you , Katy Summers!” 

“ Gracious ! ” exclaimed Katy. “ Would n’t 
that have been awful? Yes, I believe I do like 
him a little, since he did that. I wrote a composi- 
tion about him once, too. It did n’t bring any- 
thing good in my direction. But then, it was n’t 
a very good composition. I only got a C with it.” 

“Well,” said Mary, “I feel as if I owe him 
something, and Aunt Nan something. And 
sooner or later I’m going to read everything he 
ever wrote.” 

“Goodness!” said Katy. “Then you’ll never 
have time to read anything else, I guess. Look!” 

■ — She pointed around the walls. “Why, there 
are hundreds of Shakespeares. Hundreds and 
hundreds!” 

“They are mostly different editions of the 
same thing,” said Mary wisely. “I shan’t have 
39 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


to read every edition. There aren’t so very 
many books by him, really. Not more than 
thirty, I think. I’ve been looking at this little 
red set that’s so easy to handle and has such 
nice notes. I like the queer spelling. I ’m going 
to read ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ first. I 
think that’s what Aunt Nan meant.” 

“What do you mean by 6 what Aunt Nan 
meant 9 ?” asked Katy curiously. “Has she writ- 
ten you another letter?” Mary had told her 
about the will. 

“No, not exactly,” confessed Mary. “But 
see what I found just now when I finished read- 
ing ‘Shakespeare the Boy,’ — the book that 
was lying on her desk with that first note she 
wrote me.” And she opened the volume which 
she held in her hand at the last page. Below 
the word “Finis” were penned in a delicate, 
old-fashioned writing these words : — 

Mem. Read in this order, with notes . 

1. Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

2. Julius Caesar. 

3. Twelfth Night. 

4. Tempest. 

5. As You Like It. 

6. Merchant of Venice. 

7. Hamlet, etc. 


40 


INSTRUCTIONS 


“Pooh!” cried Katy. “I don’t believe she 
meant that for you, at all! She was just talking 
to herself. Let’s see if there was anything writ- 
ten at the end of ‘Master Skylark.’ Did n’t you 
say that was lying on her desk, too?” 

They ran to get this other child’s book, which, 
queerly enough, had also been left lying on the 
desk, as if Aunt Nan had just been reading both. 
And there, too, at the end was written exactly 
the same list, with the same instructions. 

“That settles it!” exclaimed Mary. “She 
did mean me to see that list, so she left it in 
both those children’s books, which she thought 
I would be sure to read first. I am going to read 
Shakespeare’s plays in just the order she wished. 
I’m going to read my very own books in my 
very own library. I ’m going to begin this very 
afternoon!” Mary was quite excited. 

“Oh, no! Please not this afternoon!” begged 
Katy. “I want you to come with me while I 
do an errand at the express office in Ashley. It 
is a three-mile walk. I don’t want to go alone. 
Please, Mary!” 

“Oh, bother!” Mary was about to say; for 
she wanted to begin her reading. But she 
thought better of it. Katy had been so kind to 
her. And, after all, it was a beautiful after- 
4i 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


noon, and the walk would be very pleasant down 
a new road which she had never traveled. She 
laid down the book reluctantly. 

“Well,” she said. “I can read my books any 
time, I suppose. Is n’t it nice to think of that ? 
Yes — I’ll go with you, Katy. It will be fun. 
Just wait till I get my hat, and tell Mother.” 

“You’re a dear!” burst out Katy, hugging her. 

“If I go with you this time, Katy, you’ll have 
to read Shakespeare with me another time,” bar- 
gained Mary with good-natured guile. 

“All right,” said Katy. “Sometime, when it 
is not so nice and crisp and walky out of doors, 
as it is to-day.” 

And off the two girls started, with comradely 
arms about one another’s shoulders. 


CHAPTER VI 

THE LANTERN 

M ARY had no chance to begin reading her 
Shakespeare until the following day. But 
just as soon as she had finished her French and 
algebra home lessons, she laid aside those books 
and seized the list which Aunt Nan had made 
for her. 

“ ‘Mem. Read in this order — Midsummer 
Night’s Dream.’ That sounds good for a be- 
ginning,” she said to herself. “I just love the 
name of it. I wonder what it’s about?” Run- 
ning to the bookshelves on the left side of the 
fireplace, where one whole section was devoted 
to the works of William Shakespeare, Mary be- 
gan fumbling among the little red books. “Here 
is "A Midsummer Night’s Dream’! ” said she, 
settling herself in the big leather armchair to 
read. “Why, it’s full of fairies and private 
theatricals! I know it is going to be nice!” 

Mary read for some time and found that she 
liked the play even better than she had ex- 
pected. She always liked to read about fairies, 
of whom, indeed, the book was full. And the 
43 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


scene of the play-acting was very funny, she 
thought, especially where Bottom wanted to 
play all the parts himself. 

Presently she came to a place in the text where 
a line was heavily underscored. It was where 
Moon says, “This lantern is my lantern .” “I 
wonder why Aunt Nan marked that line? 5 ' 
thought Mary. She turned to see if there was 
anything about a lantern in the notes. And 
there she found this remark in the writing which 
she had come to recognize as Aunt Nan’s: “See 
lantern on mantelshelf. Careful!” 

“That is a funny note!” thought Mary. 
“What mantelshelf? There is n’t any in the 
play. Can she mean — why, yes! There’s a 
lantern over there on my mantelshelf!” 

Sure enough! Mary had not noticed it es- 
pecially until this minute. But there, not far 
from the bust of Shakespeare, was a queer old 
tin lantern, pierced with holes for a candle to 
shine through — the very kind that Moon must 
have used in the play, in Shakespeare’s day. 

Mary dropped the book and went over to the 
lantern, with a pleasant sense of possession. 
Everything in the room was hers. This would 
be just the thing to play Pyramus and Thisbe 
with! She took up the old lantern and exam- 
44 


THE LANTERN 


ined it curiously. In the socket was the stub 
of a candle. “I wonder who lighted it last?” 
thought Mary idly. She tried to pull out the 
candle, but it stuck. She pulled harder, and 
presently — out it came! There was something 
in the socket below — something that rattled. 
Mary shook the lantern and out fell a tiny key; 
a gilt key with a green silk string tied to the top. 
That was all. 

“What a funny place for a key!” thought 
Mary. “I wonder how it got there.” Then she 
thought again of the quotation which had been 
underlined — “ ‘ This lantern is my lantern / She 
wanted me to find it, I am sure!” thought Mary 
eagerly. “It is the key to something. Oh, if I 
could only find what that is ! How in the world 
shall I know where to look?” 

“Oh, John ! ” she cried, “John ! ” — for just then 
she heard his whistle in the hall, and she ran 
down to show him her find. 

Up came John; up the stairs two steps at a 
time, with Mary close after him. “I bet I know 
what it is!” he cried. “It’s the key to a Secret 
Panel. I’ve read about them in books, lots of 
times. Let’s hunt till we find the keyhole.” 

The wall of the library between the book- 
shelves was, indeed, paneled in dark wood, like 
45 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


the doors. But there was little enough of this 
surface, because the built-in bookshelves took 
up so much space. With the aid of the library 
ladder it took Mary and John comparatively 
little time to go over every inch of the paneling 
very carefully, thumping the wall with the heel 
of Mary’s slipper, to see if it might be hollow. 
But no sound betrayed a secret hiding-place. No 
scratch or knot concealed a tiny keyhole. Tired 
and disgusted at last, they gave up the search. 

“I think that’s a pretty poor joke!” said 
John. “A key without anything to fit it to is 
about as silly as can be!” 

“Aunt Nan made some silly jokes in other 
parts of the house,” said Mary. “But she has 
n’t done so in the library. I don’t believe she 
meant to tease me. Let’s go and tell Father. 
Perhaps he will know what it means.” And 
forthwith they tripped to the Doctor’s study, 
with the key and the lantern and the marked 
copy of “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” to puz- 
zle the Philosopher. They laid the three exhib- 
its on his desk, and stood off, challenging him 
with eager eyes. 

Dr. Corliss looked at these things critically; 
then he followed them back to the library and 
glanced about the walls. 

46 


THE LANTERN 


“Well, Father?” asked Mary at last. “What 
do you think it means?” 

The Doctor hummed and hawed. “Why, I 
think it means that Aunt Nan was playing a 
joke on you this time, Mary!” he said, laugh- 
ing. “It would be just like her, you know. You 
can’t hope to be the only one to escape her 
humors. Besides, this key does n’t look to me 
like a real key to anything. You must n’t ex- 
pect too much, my girl, nor get excited over this 
legacy of yours, or I shall be sorry you have it. 
I suspect there are no more gold watches and 
hundred-dollar bills floating around in your 
library. It would n’t be like Aunt Nan to do 
the same thing twice. It was the unexpected 
that always pleased her. You had better make 
the most of your books for their own sakes, 
Mary.” 

“Yes, I am going to do that,” said Mary, 
taking the key from her father and putting the 
green string around her neck. “I am going to 
wear it as a sort of ‘Midsummer Night’s 
Dream’ charm. And I believe that some day 
I shall find out the key to the key, if I look long 
enough.” 

“If you read long enough, perhaps you may,” 
said her father, laughing. “I have heard that 
47 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


they find queer things in Shakespeare some- 
times — ciphers and things like that. But I 
never had time to study them up. A cipher is 
nothing to me.” And he chuckled at his little 
joke. 

“If I read long enough, perhaps I may find 
out something. That’s so!” said Mary. “I ’ll 
keep on reading.” 

“Pooh! That’s a slow way!” said John. “If 
there was anything in my library, I’d want to 
find it out right away!” 

“If she has put anything in my library, that 
is n’t the way Aunt Nan meant me to find it,” 
retorted Mary. “I am going to do what Aunt 
Nan wanted, if I can discover what that is.” 

“That’s right, Mary!” said her father. “I 
believe you are on the right track.” 

Just at this moment there was a queer 
sound, apparently in one corner of the room. 

“Hark!” said Dr. Corliss. “What was that, 
Mary?” 

“ It sounded like something rapping on the 
floor!” said John, with wide eyes. 

“Oh, I hear sounds like that quite often,” 
said Mary carelessly. “At first it frightened 
me, but I have got used to it. I suppose it 
must be a rat in the cellar.” 

48. 


THE LANTERN 


“Yes, I dare say it is a rat,” said her father. 
“ Old houses like this have strange noises, often. 
But I have never seen any rats.” 

“It sounded too big for a rat,” declared 
John. “Aren’t you afraid, Mary?” 

“No,” declared Mary; “I’m not afraid, 
whether it’s a rat or not. Some way, I think 
I could n’t be afraid in this room.” 

“ I thought girls were always afraid of rats,” 
murmured John. 


CHAPTER VII 

CALIBAN 

W ITH rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes Mary 
returned from a walk with Katy Sum- 
mers. It had been pleasant but uneventful. 
Just as she turned in at the little dooryard of 
home, she thought she spied a black Something 
dart like a shadow across the little strip of 
green beside the house. 

“ It looks like a cat,” said Mary to herself. “ I 
will see where it went to.” She followed to the 
end of the house, where the shape had seemed 
to disappear. There was nothing to be seen. 
She went around the ell, and back to the front of 
the house again. Still there was no trace of the 
little shadow that had streaked into invisibility. 

“If it was not my imagination, it must have 
gone under the house,” said Mary to herself. 
“Two or three times I have thought I spied a 
black blur in the act of disappearing; and I be- 
lieve we are haunted by something on four legs. 
I will ask the family.” 

That night at the supper-table she broached 
the question. 

50 


CALIBAN 


“Mother, have you ever seen a cat about the 
place — a black cat, a swift cat, a cat that never 
stays for a second in one spot — a mysterious 
cat that is gone as soon as you see it?” 

“That sounds spooky enough!” commented 
Dr. Corliss. “You make the shivers run down 
my sensitive spine!” 

“I have not seen any cat,” said Mrs. Corliss. 
“I think you must be mistaken, Mary.” 

“Yes, IVe seen a cat!” volunteered John, — 
“a thin black cat, oh, so thin! I saw him run 
across the lawn once ; and once I saw him crouch- 
ing down by the lilac bush near the back door. I 
think he was catching mice.” 

“Then there is a cat,” said Mary. “I thought 
I might be dreaming. He must be very wild. 
I believe he lives under our house.” 

“Under the house!” exclaimed Mrs. Corliss. 
“Surely, we should all have seen him if he lived 
so near. I can’t think he could have escaped 
my eyes. But now, I remember, I have heard 
strange noises in the cellar once or twice.” 

“I have, often,” said Mary, “ under my 
library.” 

“Maybe it is a witch-cat!” suggested Dr. 
Corliss, pretending to look frightened. “You 
people are all so fond of poetry and ravens and 
5 1 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


mystery and magics — you attract strange do- 
ings, you see. Maybe Aunt Nan had a witch- 
cat who helped her play tricks on the ever-to- 
be-surprised world.” 

“ Daddy !” cried John, “ there’s no such thing 
as a witch-cat, is there, truly ?” 

“Of course not !” laughed his mother. “Daddy 
is only joking. And now I come to think of it, 
I have wondered why the scraps I put out for 
the birds always vanished so quickly. A hungry 
cat prowling about would explain everything.” 

“It might be Aunt Nan’s cat,” said Mary 
thoughtfully. “Poor thing! He might have run 
away when he could n’t find Aunt Nan any 
more. He might have been frightened, and 
have hid under the house.” 

“I think in that case he would have starved 
to death in all these weeks,” said Mrs. Corliss. 
“Besides, I should think the neighbors would 
have told us, or that Aunt Nan herself would 
have left some word.” 

“I ’m going to find out, if I can,” said Mary. 
“If it’s Aunt Nan’s cat I want to be good to 
him. We want to be good to him, anyway, don’t 
we?” 

“Of course we do,” said Mrs. Corliss. “But 
there is nothing so hard to tame as a wild cat.” 
52 


CALIBAN 


Katy Summers knew nothing of any cat be- 
longing to Miss Corliss. Neither did the other 
neighbors. 

That next day on coming home from school 
Mary again spied the cat. Just as she clicked 
the gate she saw the long, black shape scurry 
across the lawn and vanish under the ell, under 
Mary’s library. Mary tiptoed to the house and, 
stooping, called gently, “ Kitty! Kitty! Kitty !” 

At first there was no response. But presently 
there came a feeble and doleful “ Miaou!” And 
Mary thought she could catch the gleam of two 
green eyes glaring out of the darkness. 

"I must get him something to eat,” said Mary. 
“ Perhaps I can tempt him to make friends.” 
And running into the house she returned with a 
saucer of milk and a bit of meat, which she set 
down close to the house. “Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!” 
she called, in a tone of invitation. 

“Miaou!” cried the forlorn cat again. But 
he did not come forth from his hiding-place. 

“I shall have to go away, and give him a 
chance to eat when I am not by,” thought Mary. 
And this she did. From her chamber window 
she could just manage to watch the hole under 
the ell. After a long time she was rewarded by 
seeing the cat’s head emerge from the hole. For 
53 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


a minute he stared around with wild eyes, his 
body ready to spring. But finding himself safe, 
he hungrily seized the meat and retreated with 
it under the house. Presently he came out 
again, licking his chops eagerly, and began to 
lap the milk, retreating every now and then as 
if some fancied sound alarmed him. The poor 
creature’s sides were so thin that he resembled 
a cut-out pasteboard cat. His tail was like that 
of a long black rat. He seemed to be wearing a 
collar about his neck. 

“He must have been somebody’s pet cat,” said 
Mary to herself. “I must try to tame him.” 

But it took a great deal of time and patience 
to make friends with the poor black pussy, 
which had evidently been greatly frightened 
and almost starved. Day after day Mary set 
out the saucer of milk and a bit of meat. And 
each time she did so, she talked kindly to the cat 
hidden under the house, hoping that he would 
come out while she was still there. But it was 
many days before she got more than the mourn- 
ful “Miaou!” in answer to her coaxing words. 

At last, one day, after waiting a long time be- 
side the saucer of milk and a particularly savory 
plate of chicken-bones, Mary was rewarded by 
seeing the cat timidly thrust out his head while 
54 


CALIBAN 


she was talking. He drew back almost imme- 
diately. But finally the smell of the chicken 
tempted him beyond caution, and he got up 
courage to face this stranger who seemed to show 
no evil intentions. He snatched a chicken-bone 
and vanished. But this was the beginning of 
friendship. 

The next day the cat came out almost immedi- 
ately when Mary called him. Presently he would 
take things from her hand, timidly at first, then 
with increasing confidence, when he found that 
nothing dreadful happened. But still Mary had 
no chance to examine the collar, on which she 
saw that there were some words engraved. 

At last came a day when the cat let Mary 
stroke his fur, now grown much sleeker and 
covering a plumper body. And from that time 
it became easier to make friends. Soon Mary 
held the creature on her lap for a triumphant 
minute. And the next day she had a chance to 
examine the engraved collar. On the silver plate 
was traced, — “ Caliban . Home of N . Corliss. 
Crowfield” 

“He was Aunt Nan’s cat!” cried Mary in ex- 
citement. And she ran into the house with the 
news. 

Mrs. Corliss was astonished. “We must make 
55 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


Caliban feel at home again,” she said. “He 
must have had a terrible fright. But we will 
help him to forget that before long.” 

In a little while Mary succeeded in coaxing 
Caliban into the house. And once inside he did 
not behave like a stranger. For a few moments, 
indeed, he hesitated, cringing as if in fear of 
what might happen. But presently he raised 
his head, sniffed, and, looking neither to right 
nor left, marched straight toward the library. 
Mary tiptoed after him, in great excitement. 
Caliban went directly to the big armchair be- 
side the desk, sniffed a moment at the cushion, 
then jumped up and curled himself down for a 
nap, giving a great sigh of contentment. From 
that moment he accepted partnership with 
Mary in the room and all its contents. 

“Well, I never!” cried Mrs. Corliss, who had 
followed softly. “The cat is certainly at home. 
I wonder how he ever happened to go away ? I 
suppose we shall never know.” 

And they never did. They made inquiries of 
the neighbors. But nobody could tell them any- 
thing definite about Aunt Nan’s cat. Some per- 
sons had, indeed, seen a big black creature stalk- 
ing about the lawn in the old lady’s time, and had 
not liked the look of him, as they said. But as 


CALIBAN 


Miss Corliss had never had anything to do with 
her neighbors, so her cat seemed to have fol- 
lowed her example. And when Aunt Nan’s day 
was over, the cat simply disappeared. 

Caliban must have lived precariously by 
catching mice and birds. But he never deserted 
the neighborhood of the old house when the 
new tenants came to live there ; though it took 
him some time to realize that these were rela- 
tives of his mistress whom he might trust. 

Once more an inmate of the house, Caliban 
never wandered again. He adopted Mary as 
his new mistress, and allowed her to take all 
kinds of liberties with him. But to the rest of 
the family he was always rather haughty and 
stand-offish. John never quite got rid of the idea 
that Caliban was a witch-cat. And sometimes 
he had a rather creepy feeling when the great 
black cat blinked at him with his green eyes. 

But Mary said it was all nonsense. “He’s just 
a dear, good, soft pussy-cat,” she cried one day, 
hugging the now plump and handsome Caliban 
in her arms. 

And Caliban, stretching out a soft paw, laid 
it lovingly against his little mistress’s cheek. 

But John vowed that at the same moment 
Caliban winked wickedly at him! 


CHAPTER VIII 

THE BUST 


F OR some weeks life went on quietly for the 
Corliss family, made more interesting by 
the coming of Caliban, who resembled his late 
mistress in some unexpected qualities. But the 
family had got used to being surprised by Aunt 
Nan’s jokes, so that they were no longer jokes 
at all. And nothing further of a mysterious na- 
ture happened in Mary’s library, so that every- 
body had about forgotten the excitement of 
the watch, the bookmark, and the unexplained 
key. 

The more Mary read her Shakespeare, the 
better she liked the plays, which, as she said, 
were “just full of familiar quotations!” Cali- 
ban approved heartily of Mary’s reading. He 
liked nothing better than to curl up in her lap 
while she sat in the big easy-chair, with her book 
resting on its broad arm ; and his rumbling purr 
made a pleasant accompaniment whenever she 
read aloud. For Mary liked to read aloud to 
herself and to him. It made her understand the 
story so much better. 

58 


THE BUST 


Probably Caliban was used to assisting Aunt 
Nan in this same way. He was truly a cat of 
fine education. Mary wondered if he knew all 
the books in the library. “He looks wise enough 
to,” she thought. 

“I think Caliban likes some plays better than 
others,” she confided to her mother. “He did 
n’t seem to care so much for ‘Midsummer 
Night’s Dream.’ But then, I had almost fin- 
ished it before he came. He was crazy over 
‘Julius Caesar,’ — you ought to have heard him 
purr at Marc Antony’s great speech ! And now 
that I have begun ‘The Tempest,’ he gets so 
excited, Mother!” 

“Of course,” said Mrs. Corliss; “that’s where 
he comes in, is n’t it?” 

“Yes,” said Mary. “Oh, Mumsie, I was so 
surprised when I found Caliban’s name in the 
list of characters! I just shouted it right out; 
and you ought to have seen Caliban arch his 
neck and rub his head against me, and purr like 
a little furnace. I’m sure he knew it was his 
play. And isn’t it a lovely play, Mother? I 
like it best of all.” 

“So do I,” said her mother. 

One day Mary coaxed Katy Summers home 
with her after school. “The time has come for 
59 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


you to keep your promise, Katy,” said Mary. 
“ You’ve got to listen to Shakespeare now.” 

“All right,” said Katy resignedly. “I sup- 
pose I must, sooner or later.” 

“I am going to read you some of ‘The Tem- 
pest/ ” said Mary. “I want you to like it as 
well as I do.” 

“You know I never cared for poetry,” said 
Katy doubtfully. 

“But you will care for this” said Mary posi- 
tively, “especially if you hear it read. That’s the 
way everybody ought to know poetry, I think. 
Why, even Caliban likes to hear me read poetry. 
See, here he comes to listen.” 

Sure enough, at the sound of Mary’s voice 
Caliban had come running into the library with 
a little purr. He looked very handsome and 
fluffy these days. Waving his tail majestically, 
he jumped up into Mary’s lap and sat on her 
knee blinking his green eyes at Katy as if to say, 
“Now you are going to hear something fine!” 

“I believe John is right,” said Katy. “He 
does look like a witch-cat. He’s too knowing 
by half! I suppose I shall have to like the 
reading, if he says so.” Katy was just a bit jeal- 
ous of Mary’s new friend. 

“Of course Caliban knows what is best!” 

60 


THE BUST 


chuckled Mary. “Now, listen, Katy.” And 
she began to read the beautiful lines. Pres- 
ently she caught up with her own bookmark, 
and went on with scenes which she had not read 
before. Mary read very nicely, and Katy lis- 
tened patiently, while Caliban purred more and 
more loudly, “knitting” with busy paws on 
Mary’s knees. 

After a while Katy saw Mary’s eyes grow 
wide, and she paused in the reading, ceasing to 
stroke Caliban’s glossy fur. Caliban looked up 
at her and stopped purring, as if to say, “What 
is it, little Mistress?” 

“What is the matter? Go on, Mary,” cried 
Katy. “I like it!” 

“It’s a Song,” said Mary, in a queer voice, 
“and words of it are underlined, Katy, in the 
same way that the other place I told you of was 
underlined.” 

Katy nodded eagerly. She had heard about 
the clue to the finding of the key. “What does 
it say?” she asked. 

And Mary read the lines of the Song: — 

“Full fathom five thy father lies; 

Of his bones are coral made y 
Those are pearls , that were his eyes ; 

Nothing of him that doth fade, 

61 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


But doth suffer a sea-change 
Into something rich and strange. 

Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell; 

Hark! now I hear them — Ding-dong, bell!” 

“It’s lovely!” cried Katy. “And which lines 
are underscored, Mary?” 

“ ‘Of his bones are coral made 9 and ‘ Those are 
pearls that were his eyes , 9 and ‘something rich 
and strange 9 Oh, Katy, what do you suppose 
Aunt Nan meant this time?” said Mary with 
eager eyes. 

At this point Caliban arched his back and 
yawned prodigiously, then jumped down on 
the floor and sat at Mary’s feet, switching 
his tail. 

“Hurry and look at the notes at the end of 
the book, Mary!” cried Katy, almost as much 
excited as her friend. “I did not know that 
poetry could be so interesting.” 

Mary turned hastily to the back of the book. 
In the margin beside the printed notes were 
penned several words; references to other plays 
which evidently Aunt Nan wanted Mary to look 
up. “Bother!” said Mary in disappointment; 
“it’s only more quotations. I don’t want to 
stop for them 99 

“You had better, Mary,” suggested Katy. 

62 



“OH, KATY, WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE AUNT NAN MEANT 

THIS TIME?” 








































































































































































X 





































































0 

. 





































THE BUST 


“ Perhaps if you do they will give you still an- 
other clue. See how queer Caliban looks !” 

The cat was looking up in Mary’s face ex- 
pectantly; and when she stooped to pat him, 
he opened his mouth and gave a strange, sound- 
less “ Miaou!” 

“It looked as if he said "Yes!’ didn’t it, 
Katy?” said Mary. “Well, then, I suppose I 
had better do it. The first reference is to ‘As 
You Like It,’ Act n, Scene i.” 

Mary went to the Shakespeare shelf, found 
the volume quickly, and looked up the proper 
place. “Yes!” she exclaimed, “there is a line 
underscored here, too, — 6 Wears yet a precious 
jewel in his head' What a queer saying, Katy! 
What do you suppose it means? And this 
is the next quotation, in the ‘Sonnets’ — Num- 
ber cxxxv, Line i. Here it is! ‘ Whoever has 
her wish , you have your Will' Now, what 
connection can there be between those two 
things, Katy?” 

“I don’t know!” said Katy, disappointed. 
“Is that all, are you sure? It doesn’t seem to 
mean anything, does it?” 

“Wait a minute!” added Mary. “Here in the 
Sonnet-margin she has written, ‘ Will S. — Yours . 
Look!'" 


63 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


“Look where ?” wondered Katy. “What Will 
S. have you, Mary?” 

At the word “Look!” Mary had glanced up 
at the portrait of Aunt Nan, and it seemed to 
her as if the eyes in the picture were cast down 
on something below them. Mary’s own eyes 
followed the look, and fell on the bust of Shake- 
speare in the middle of the mantelshelf. “Does 
she mean — perhaps she does — that bust of 
Will Shakespeare?” said Mary. “It is mine now, 
of course. ‘ Whoever has her wish ’ — ‘ Wears yet 
a precious jewel in his head ’ — ‘ Something rich 
and strange .’ ” 

“Oh, Mary ! It all fits together!” cried Katy, 
clapping her hands. “Do have a look at that 
bust, dear! If it is your Will.” 

“That’s just what I will do!” cried Mary, 
running to the mantelpiece, with Katy close be- 
hind her, and Caliban following them both. 

The bust was a plaster one about six inches 
high, and it stood on a black marble block like 
a little pedestal. Mary had dusted it many times 
and she knew it was not fastened to the pedestal 
and that it was hollow. But was it also empty? 

While the girls were looking at the bust, Cali- 
ban suddenly made two leaps, one to a chair, 
then to the mantelshelf which he reached with- 
64 


THE BUST 


out a slip. Then he took up his pose beside the 
bust of Shakespeare, and sat blinking wisely at 
them. 

“Do look at Caliban !” cried Katy. “He cer- 
tainly looks as if he knew secrets! ” 

“Perhaps he does,” said Mary. “Maybe 
there is a secret about this bust. I am going to 
see. If you please, Master Will S.” 

She took down the bust" and shook it gently. 
Nothing rattled inside. Nothing fell out. She 
poked with her finger as far as she could reach. 
There seemed to be nothing in the interior. 

“Try again, Mary,” begged Katy, producing 
something from her pocket. “Here’s my fold- 
ing button-hook.” Cautiously Mary thrust the 
hook up into the place where the brains of 
William S. would have been, were they not dis- 
tributed about the library instead in the form 
of books. 

Yes! There was something up in the head; 
something that was yielding to the touch of the 
steel ; something that came out at last in her 
hand. It was a piece of soft chamois-skin, folded 
and tied with green silk cord like that on which 
hung the mysterious key. 

“Oh, Mary!” cried Katy, holding her breath. 
“What is it?” 


65 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


“Sh!” said Mary, with shining eyes. Cau- 
tiously she undid the little packet; and there 
inside was another packet, wrapped in silver 
foil, very tiny, very hard. Mary squeezed it 
gently, but the feeling gave no clue as to the 
contents. 

While Katy watched her with bulging eyes, 
Mary peeled off the silver paper, a bit at a time. 
First of all was revealed a pink bead; more 
pink beads; a whole necklace, strung on a pink 
thread, of the most beautiful coral. 

“Miaou !” cried Caliban suddenly. 

“Oh-h!” cried Katy. “I never saw anything 
so sweet !” 

“ ‘Of his bones are coral made / ” quoted Mary. 
“Oh, clever Aunt Nan! — What else?’’ for the 
next quotation was running in her head, and 
she was very eager. With trembling fingers she 
unwrapped the rest of the package, and brought 
to light a tiny pasteboard box of not more than 
an inch in any dimension. 

“I know what it is!” whispered Katy. 

But she gasped when she saw what really 
came out — yes, a ring, on a white velvet bed. 
But such a ring! It had two big pearls in it, 
side by side, as big as the end of Mary’s little 
finger. 


66 


THE BUST 


“Oh!” cried Mary with delight. “What a 
beautiful ring! I do love pearls. — ‘ Those are 
pearls which were his eyes ,’ Katy, do you see? 
And this is the * something rich and strange .’ 
What fun it is to find a treasure all by the aid of 
lovely quotations!” 

“I think it is wonderful!” said Katy. “It is 
so poetic.” 

“Come; let’s show these to Father and 
Mother,” said Mary, giving Caliban a big hug. 
And off the two girls ran to exhibit the treas- 
ures. 

Mrs. Corliss was delighted with her daugh- 
ter’s find. “I am glad you have the pretty 
necklace to wear with your best dresses,” she 
said. “It is very nice and suitable for a school- 
girl. But the pearl ring — I think we must put 
that away until you are older. It is too valu- 
able and too conspicuous. I don’t like to see 
little girls wearing jewelry.” 

“I can wear it when I go to college — if I go; 
may I not, Mother?” asked Mary wistfully. 

“Oh, yes, if you go to college, Dearie,” sighed 
her mother. “ At any rate, you can wear it when 
you are eighteen.” 

Dr. Corliss examined the ring carefully. 
“Yes, I am sure I have seen Aunt Nan wear 
67 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


it,” he said. “It must be one of the set of 
famous pearls that she was once proud of. 
Doubtless she sold the rest long ago and gave 
the money to her hospital. I am glad Mary has 
this; but Mother is right. School-girls should 
not wear jewelry. Put it away until you are 
grown-up, my daughter.” 

So Mary fastened the pretty necklace about 
her round throat, and shut the pearl ring away 
in her bureau drawer, with a sigh. 

But Katy Summers said: — 

“I would n’t mind, Mary, even if you can’t 
wear it yet. Just to think that you have it, and 
that you got it in such a mysterious way! Why, 
it is like a story-book!” 

“Doesn’t it make you want to hear some 
more Shakespeare?” demanded Mary, laughing. 

“Indeed it does!” agreed Katy. “I’ll come 
and listen whenever you will let me. Who knows 
what may happen? Yes, I’ll wager that Cali- 
ban knows.” 

“The same thing never happens twice,” sighed 
Mary. 

John was disgusted when he came home from 
a meeting of the Big Four to find that he had 
missed this most exciting discovery; although, 
after all, when it came to the jewelry, John 
68 


THE BUST 


thought the result rather small. “My good- 
ness, Mary!” he exclaimed, “I’ll bet there are 
lots more things hidden in that old library of 
yours. Don’t you go and do all the hunting 
when I ’m not here.” 

“I don’t,” said Mary. “I didn’t mean to 
hunt. I don’t ever mean to hunt. But if things 
come — all right.” 

“I wish you’d let me have the fun of hunting 
in the library all I want, just once,” said John 
wistfully. 

Mary hesitated. She did not want anybody 
to rummage among her books. But she hated 
to be “stingy,” and she felt as if she were really 
having more than her share of fun out of Aunt 
Nan’s legacy, in spite of John’s two thousand 
dollars. So she said generously, without letting 
John see how great an effort it was: “All right, 
Johnny. To-morrow is Saturday, and I’ll give 
you free leave to hunt all you want to in my 
library. I won’t even come to bother you.” 

“Bully for you!” crowed John. “Finding’s 
having?” 

But that was more than Mary bargained 
for. 

“Oh, no, John!” she cried. “I don’t think 
Aunt Nan would like that. Do you?” 

69 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


“Oh, bother! I suppose not/’ grumbled John. 
“She was a queer one!’ 5 

The next Saturday morning John spent in 
hunting that library from floor to ceiling. Cali- 
ban, sitting on a corner of the mantelpiece, 
watched him gravely during the whole opera- 
tion, but offered no suggestions. John poked 
behind the books, in every corner, under every 
rug. He even ripped open a bit of the cover on 
the old sofa. But nothing interesting could he 
find. . 

“I say, Caliban, can’t you help me?” he said 
once, to the watching cat. 

But Caliban only blinked, and gave his tail 
a little switch. 

“I’ll give it up!” growled John at last, dis- 
gustedly, when Mary came to call him to dinner. 
“I guess you’ve got about all you are ever going 
to get out of Aunt Nan’s legacy. If Caliban 
knows anything more about it he won’t tell me. 
Anyway, I’ve got my two thousand, and that’s 
best of all.” 

“All right, John,” retorted Mary good-natur- 
edly. “I’ve got my two thousand books, any- 
way, and Caliban. So I am not complaining.” 

She did not tell John that she still hoped to 
solve the mystery of the key on the green silk 
70 


THE BUST 


cord ; not to solve it by hunting or by hurrying, 
but in Aunt Nan’s own way, whatever that 
might be. 

And Caliban, looking up at her, switched his 
tail and gave a wise, solemn wink. 


CHAPTER IX 

THE ATTIC 

T HE Corliss family were sadly in need of 
funds. There were the butcher and the 
baker and the candlestick-maker politely pre- 
senting their bills to the family recently arrived 
in Crowfield, suggesting in print and in writing 
and by word of mouth that “ bills are payable 
monthly.” Now it was the end of the month, 
and there was no money to pay these same bills ; 
for the expense of moving and settling in a new 
place had been heavy, and their small income 
had already disappeared. 

“ How much money is it that we need for im- 
mediate bills, Mother?” asked Dr. Corliss wear- 
ily. It always tired him to talk about money. 

“ Just about a hundred dollars would bridge 
us over nicely,” said his wife, with an anxious 
pucker in her forehead. “But I don’t see any 
sign of our getting that hundred dollars for a 
month to come. And then it will be needed for 
fresh bills.” 

“Why, of course, you must take my hun- 
dred dollars that I found in Aunt Nan’s book,” 
72 


THE ATTIC 


said Mary cheerfully, though it cost her a pang 
to think of using up her wonder-gift so soon in 
this way. ‘Til just take it out of the bank next 
Saturday morning.” 

“I hate to touch that money of yours, Mary, 
even if we put it back for you when we can,” 
sighed her mother. “I hoped we could save that 
for your nest-egg toward a college fund. Let 
me think it over a bit longer. Perhaps some- 
thing will happen to help us. Or I may think 
of some way to earn the money.” 

They left discussion of the matter for that 
time. But they all took the troublesome prob- 
lem away with them into their daily tasks. 

“It is a shame for Mary to have to give up 
her hundred dollars,” thought John. “I wish 
I could help earn some money so that she need 
n’t do it. If I was in the city I could sell 
papers or something. But what can I do here 
when I have to go to school every day? School 
takes up such a lot of time!” 

John sighed as he swung his books over his 
shoulder and started off for school. All day he 
thought about that needed money; and it was 
in his mind when he turned in at the gate that 
night. 

“I wish I was clever and could think up some- 
73 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


thing,” said John to Caliban, who was sitting on 
the top step looking at him when John came in. 
“I wonder you don’t help us, Caliban. Come, 
now, can’t you think of something, old witch- 
cat?” 

Caliban did not seem to mind being spoken 
to in this impolite way. But he did look at John 
in a fashion that the boy thought very knowing, 
and he did unmistakably wink one eye. 

“Miaou!” said Caliban, and he turned his 
back on John, and began to walk upstairs. 

John was going upstairs too; so he followed 
Caliban, who, however, hopped three steps at 
a time, while John could only take two with his 
short legs. When they reached the top of the 
flight, Caliban looked about to see if John was 
still following him. John had not meant to do 
so, but when he saw Caliban turn and look, 
with that queer expression in his green eyes, 
John had an idea. 

“Maybe he wants me to follow him,” said he 
to himself. He tossed his books on to a chair 
and tiptoed after the big black cat. Caliban 
ambled unconcernedly along the hall and sud- 
denly darted up the attic stairs. “Hello!” said 
John, with a whistle under his breath. “What 
is Caliban up to now? I thought he never went 
. 74 


THE ATTIC 


far from Mary’s library. But, I declare, he is 
coaxing me to follow him up into the attic! You 
bet I ’ll follow you, old boy!” 

John had never paid much attention to the 
attic. He had looked into it, of course. But it 
was so dark and dusty and cobwebby that it 
was not much fun poking about up there. Since 
their first visit the family had not been there ex- 
cept to store away some of Aunt Nan’s super- 
fluous old furniture and ornaments. 

If the house had seemed like a museum to the 
family when they first entered it, this attic 
looked like a junk-shop. Every corner was filled 
with furniture, boxes, bundles, strange gar- 
ments hanging from hooks, bales bursting with 
mysterious contents. Away back in the dusty 
corners, where it was so dark that John’s eye 
could not distinguish, bulked other dim shapes. 

Caliban walked across the floor in a furtive 
fashion, then suddenly made a dive into a dis- 
tant dark corner, where John immediately heard 
a scurrying and scratching. 

“He’s after a mouse!” thought John excitedly. 
And he, too, dived into the darkness after the 
cat, who had disappeared. But Caliban had 
scuttled into some hole too small for John to 
enter. John could hear him still scratching and 
75 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


sniffing. And an occasional squeak betrayed 
the misfortune of some long-tailed dweller in the 
garret that Caliban had taken by surprise. 

John got down on his hands and knees the 
better to investigate that corner. But still he 
could not spy the cat and his prey. He only 
bumped his nose against the low beams, and got 
his mouth full of cobwebs. But in that dark hid- 
ing-place he came upon an unexpected thing. 
This was something that at first he took to be 
a bicycle. But he soon found by feeling of it 
that there was but one wheel, and that it was 
made of wood. At one end was a curious bunch 
of what felt like long hair; it made John shud- 
der. But presently he remembered. 

“It must be a spinning-wheel,” said John to 
himself. “I remember seeing one in the picture 
of Priscilla and John Alden.” Just then he 
bumped his head on something hard. “ What 
is this great long-handled pan?” he said. “I Ve 
seen those in the curiosity shops, too. Hello! 
Here’s a cradle, the kind that rocks. I’ve seen 
those in pictures. And here’s a pair of and- 
irons. My! this is a regular old curiosity shop. 
These things must be worth a lot of money.” 

Then a sudden wonderful idea popped into 
John’s head. “Why can’t we sell them, if they 
76 


THE ATTIC 


are worth a lot of money? Why, of course we 
can sell them, and save Mary’s hundred dollars! 
Maybe that is just what old Caliban knew, when 
he coaxed me to follow him up here. Say, you old 
rascal, where are you? Here, ’Ban! ’Ban! Come 
on out and let me see what you think about it!” 

But Caliban had disappeared with his mouse, 
or whatever it was, which had ceased to squeak. 
And there was nothing but darkness and silence 
in the old attic beside the little boy and that 
strange litter of ancient things. 

John looked around and shivered. “I guess 
I’ll be going,” he said. “ I won’t stop to examine 
anything more. They all belong to Mother. 
I’ll let her do the looking-up. I’ll run down 
and tell her what I’ve found.” 

And hurrying as fast as he could out of the 
dark corner, where the cobwebs and the dust 
were trying to keep intruders away from the 
old things to which they clung, John made for 
the attic stairs. Two or three times he thought 
he heard strange noises behind him, and he 
could n’t go fast enough. Probably it was Cali- 
ban still scratching in some dark subway under 
the rafters. But John had no wish to stop and 
investigate. He came clattering down the stairs, 
and burst into his mother’s room. 

77 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


“Mother!” he cried, “I’ve found something! ” 

“Goodness, John!” she said. “What a dirty 
face you have, and your eyebrows are all cob- 
webby. Where in the world have you been, and 
what have you found?” 

“I’ve found things up in the attic!” exclaimed 
John triumphantly. “Caliban showed me the 
way. It was all his doings. I think he did it on 
purpose — to help Mary.” 

“To help Mary! What in the world do you 
mean?” cried Mrs. Corliss. “Have you found a 
treasure, John, or some more mysterious se- 
crfets?” 

“Well, no, not exactly,” confessed John, 
somewhat crestfallen. “Unless we make it a 
secret. I’d like that. But I think it’s a nice sur- 
prise, Mumsie, and I think it will save some of 
Mary’s hundred dollars. Mother, — all the 
furniture belongs to you, does n’t it?” 

“Why, yes, Johnny,” she answered, wonder- 
ing. “Why do you ask?” 

“Because,” said John importantly, “I have 
been snooping around the attic, Mumsie, and I 
think there are a lot of things you can sell.” 

“What kind of things do you mean, John?” 
she asked, looking interested. 

“ Why, you know, Mother,” said John, “ there ’s 
78 ; 


THE ATTIC 


a lot of old truck in the corners up there that 
looks just like the stuff we used to see in the 
curiosity shops in the city. I did n’t look very 
far, Mumsie, ’cause it was so — well, so dirty 
in there. But there’s wheels and andirons and 
things that I bet are worth lots of money!” 

“Are there, John?” said Mrs. Corliss. “How 
clever of you to think of it ! I never dreamed of 
looking in Aunt Nan’s attic to find the way out 
of our difficulty. Perhaps this is the solution!” 

“It’s Caliban’s idea,” said John, wishing to 
be fair and not to claim too much credit, but 
feeling well pleased with himself, just the same. 

“Let’s go up right away and see what we can 
find; shall we, John?” said his mother. “I can’t 
wait!” 

“All right,” agreed John. “But you’d better 
take a candle, Mumsie. It’s terribly dark and 
spooky up there. And noises sound louder in 
the dark.” 

Back to the garret they went, Mrs. Corliss 
as eager as John. And into those dark corners 
which had been undisturbed for many, many 
years they shed the light of their blinking, in- 
quisitive candle. Mrs. Corliss was more thor- 
ough than John had cared to be. She untied 
strings, and lifted lids of trunks, and unwrapped 
79 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


coverings. Out of chests and bundles and crates 
they dragged things that had been waiting 
through generations of Aunt Nan’s ancestors 
for some one to make them useful; things that 
had. been discarded or pushed back still farther 
in order to make room for her whims and “ jokes.” 

Besides the old spinning-wheel, andirons, and 
warming-pan, they found parts of a four-post 
bedstead, a tall clock, and many quaint chairs. 
They unearthed a hair trunk, foot-warmers, 
mirrors, crockery, and lamps with prisms dang- 
ling; shawls and bonnets and carpet-bags. All of 
these things were old and most of them were 
ugly. But Mrs. Corliss knew that they would 
look beautiful to many persons, just because 
they were old; which seemed to John a strange 
reason. 

When they had brought all this old stuff to- 
gether in the middle of the attic floor, Mrs. 
Corliss looked about and smiled through a face- 
veil of dusty cobwebs. 

“Well, John!” she said, “I believe my part 
of the legacy is not to be laughed at, either. 
We don’t want to keep these old things, for 
they have no history for us and they are not 
beautiful in themselves — the only two excuses 
I see for cherishing useless old things. Luckily 
80 



Helen Mason Gro.\e 


THINGS THAT HAD BEEN WAITING THROUGH GENERATIONS 
OF AUNT NAN’S ANCESTORS FOR SOME ONE TO 
MAKE THEM USEFUL 







I 












THE ATTIC 


there are plenty of people who think differently. 
I 'll go up to town to-morrow with a list of what 
you and I have found, and see what I can get 
for them at some reliable antique shop. Let's 
keep it a secret, and surprise your father and 
Mary, if we have good luck with the venture. 
Shall we?" 

r “ Let’s!" cried John, clapping his hands. 

Just then out of the darkness crept Caliban, 
licking his chops, and looking very sly. 

“Now, don't you go and tell Mary, Caliban!" 
charged John. “For this is our secret. You 
let me into it yourself, and you've got to be our 
partner now. Don't you dare even to purr about 
it'”. 

Caliban did not promise; but he trotted down- 
stairs before them very discreetly. And all that 
evening no one would have guessed by the man- 
ner of those three conspirators what a tremen- 
dous secret they were concealing in their hearts. 
John did not dare to look at his mother's face, 
however, he was so bursting with importance. 

The next day Mrs. Corliss went to town on 
an errand which she explained rather vaguely 
to the rest of the family. She returned with 
a queer little old man with round shoulders and 
a white beard, who spoke English strangely and 
81 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


whose hands were not very clean. Mrs. Corliss 
took him straight up to the attic, which was the 
only part of the house he seemed anxious to 
visit. They stayed up there some time, and 
there was a great noise of pushing and rolling of 
furniture. When they came down, the little old 
man was looking very much pleased and rubbing 
his dirty hands together. And he went away 
still rubbing. 

Mrs. Corliss came to the supper-table with 
something which she fluttered triumphantly 
before the eyes of her bewildered family. 

“ Hurrah!” she cried. “ I ’ve got it!” 

“What is it, Mother?” said Mary. 

“How much is it, Mumsie?” begged John at 
the same minute. 

“It is a check for a hundred dollars!” cried 
Mrs. Corliss. “It’s to pay the horrid bills. Hur- 
rah!” 

“Where in the world did you get it?” asked 
Dr. Corliss. “Is it another of Mary’s book- 
marks?” 

“Not a bit of it !” sang Mrs. Corliss. “Mary’s 
bookmark is all her own, safe in bank. I got 
this out of the attic — out of my furniture. 
Now, perhaps you will think something of my 
despised legacy. I sold only a few of the old 
82 c 


THE ATTIC 


things that are of so much less use to us than 
the space they occupy. There are plenty of 
them left, and the dealer is crazy to get them, 
too. We need be in no hurry to part with them. 
Aunt Nan’s attic is a perfect storehouse of 
treasures in that man’s eyes. It was Johnny who 
found it out.” 

“Me and Caliban,” said John loyally; “don’t 
forget him.” And he told the others the whole 
story of his following the cat. 

“You blessed old Caliban!” cried Mary, 
catching up the great bundle of fur and hugging 
him tightly. “You shall have an extra saucer 
of milk for your supper, so you shall!” 

Caliban did not explain to her about the nest 
of fat mice which he had discovered in the attic. 
That was his share of the “treasure.” 


CHAPTER X 

THE PORTRAIT POINTS 

O NE winter afternoon some weeks after the 
discovery of the coral necklace and the 
pearl ring, Mary was in the library alone, read- 
ing “ Hamlet. ” It was the last play on the list 
which Aunt Nan had suggested, and Mary 
liked it best of all. Nothing further of a “mys- 
terious” nature had happened in the library; 
but Mary had almost forgotten to think about 
anything of the kind. She was reading now for 
the pleasure of it. 

She had kindled a little fire in the fireplace, 
and the library was very cozy, full of flickering 
shadows and dancing lights, that played about 
the old volumes, and seemed every minute to 
change the expression on the bust of Shake- 
speare and on Aunt Nan’s picture above it. 

But Mary, cuddled up in the big armchair 
with Caliban in her lap and the little red book 
in her hand, was too much interested in the 
fate of poor Ophelia and the unlucky Prince 
to notice lights or shadows. She had come to 
the scene where Hamlet is talking sorrowfully 
84 


, THE PORTRAIT POINTS 

to his mother in her chamber, and every word 
was wonderful. Suddenly she came upon a 
line underscored; the last part doubly under- 
scored: — 

“ Look here upon this picture , then on this.” 

Hamlet was pointing out to his mother the 
portraits of two kings, the good one who had 
been murdered, and his wicked brother who had 
killed him. The underscored line made Mary's 
heart beat faster. She had learned to connect 
some pleasant surprise with Aunt Nan’s choice 
of quotations. In the margin opposite this line 
was penned an exclamation point — just that 
and nothing more. Eager as she was to go on 
with the story, and to find out what Hamlet had 
to say next, Mary knew that it was time to 
turn to the notes at the back of the book, to see 
if Aunt Nan meant anything in particular by 
that exclamation. She could not help feeling 
as if Aunt Nan herself had called out, “Stop! 
Look! Listen!” — just as the signs at the rail- 
way crossings do to absorbed travelers. 

Yes; there was something written in the notes, 
in a blank space at the end of a paragraph: 
“ Look at my portrait ! Then turn to the play of 
Othello ” 

“Oh, dear!” said Mary to herself. “I believe 
85 


SURPRISE HOUSE 

we are coming to another Secret !” And she 
felt her heart give a little jump of excitement. 
i(< My portrait ’ There is only one portrait of 
Aunt Nan.” And she glanced up at the picture 
over the fireplace. Then, indeed, she noticed 
how the firelight was making Aunt Nan’s queer 
eyes dance and glitter, and how her mouth 
seemed to be smiling in the most knowing way. 
“Look here upon this picture , then on this.” 
What did the last part of this line, doubly 
underscored, mean to Aunt Nan ? Mary studied 
the picture long and earnestly. There was some- 
thing about it that she did not quite understand. 
It was as if Aunt Nan were trying to tell her 
something, but could not make the words plain. 
Mary felt that she almost had the clue to 
something — but not quite. Caliban did not 
seem to help her. If John were only here; John 
was so good at guessing riddles! 

Mary put down Caliban, who promptly 
jumped up onto the desk. Then she ran out 
into the hall and called, “John! John!” for 
she knew that he was in the house, probably, as 
usual, ravenous for tea. “Come to the library, 
John!” she called again, in answer to his “Hello! 
What?” — “I think it’s another Secret. Quick!” 
she added, to bring him the sooner. 

86 


THE PORTRAIT POINTS 


Down came clattering boots, and John dashed 
into the room all excitement. “What’s up?” 
he asked eagerly. And Mary showed him the 
line. “H’m!” commented John, looking at the 
portrait curiously. “She does look sly, does 
n’t she, Mary? But you have n’t looked up the 
other thing yet. I say, hurry! Let’s see what 
your old ‘Othello’ has to tell about it.” 

Sure enough! Mary had forgotten the refer- 
ence to “ Othello.” Hurriedly she got out the 
proper volume, and turned to the right page and 
line. 

u A fixed figure for the time of scorn 
To point his slow unmoving finger at” 

She read slowly. “What in the world does 
that mean? I’m sure I don’t know.” 

John had been all this time studying the por- 
trait with its queer expression. When Mary read 
the quotation he clapped his hands. “Oh, I 
say!” he cried. “It talks about a finger , point- 
ing. That’s it! She means the hand of the por- 
trait is pointing to something. It has been point- 
ing all the time, and we’ve only got to find out 
what at! Look, Mary. Don’t you see she is 
pointing, just as plainly as can be?” 

Mary dropped “Othello” and ran to look at 
the picture. The queer eyes of Aqnt Nan seemed 
87 


SURPRISE HOUSE 

to meet hers, and yes! she certainly seemed to 
be pointing with the long forefinger of her right 
hand which rested on her breast. 

Mary followed the direction of the pointing 
finger, as John was trying to do in the fading 
light. It seemed to point to a corner of the wall 
on which the portrait itself hung; to a shelf in 
the left-hand alcove by the fireplace. Both 
Mary and John ran eagerly to the corner and 
began to sight from finger to shelf and back 
again, to get a straight line from the pointing 
finger. 

“I think it falls here ' 9 said John, touching a 
fat brown book labeled “Concordance,” on the 
fourth shelf from the bottom. “But I have 
looked behind all the books on this shelf. I know 
I have!” 

“No, it doesn’t fall there,” said Mary. “I 
am sure she is pointing about here . 99 And she 
laid her hand on a row of green-and-gold vol- 
umes, whose titles she could hardly read in the 
dim light. 

“ ‘Gems from the Poets/ ” spelled John with 
difficulty. “Do you suppose she means these? 
And what does she want us to do, anyway? Let’s 
try this one.” He took down Volume I, which 
turned out to be “Gems from Marlowe,” a poet 


THE PORTRAIT POINTS 


of whom neither of them had even heard. John 
looked under the book, and examined the wall 
behind where it had stood, and began to look 
through the book itself, as carefully as possible. 
But Mary was searching farther. “I don’t think 
it is that one,” she said. “I think she is point- 
ing farther along in the row.” 

“ Let’s try them all,” suggested John, seizing 
another volume, — “‘Gems from Beaumont 
and Fletcher’ — whoever they are !” He flapped 
the leaves and looked in the space at the back 
where the cover was loose. But there was noth- 
ing unusual about that book. Meanwhile Mary 
was still drawing an imaginary line from the point 
of the portrait’s finger to the shelf in the corner. 

“I am sure she is pointing here” she said, 
laying her hand on the last volume in the row, 
which looked exactly like the others. “ ‘Gems 
from Shakespeare,’ ” she read the label on the 
back. “Yes, of course this ought to be the right 
one. She liked him best of all the poets, John. 
I believe this is it!” 

Mary pulled the volume from the shelf ea- 
gerly. But when she held it in her hands she 
uttered a cry of surprise that made John drop 
the book he was flapping strenuously, and turn 
to her. 


89 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


“What is it, Mary?” he asked. “Have you 
found something ?” 

“Oh, John!” she whispered in the greatest 
excitement, “it isn’t a book at all! It is — 
something else! I think it is the Secret!” 


CHAPTER XI 

GEMS FROM SHAKESPEARE 

I T was an exciting moment when Mary stood 
with the “Gems from Shakespeare” in her 
hand, declaring that this was not a book at all, 
but something else! What was it, then, which 
made her so excited ? Caliban eyed her from 
the desk benevolently. “Miaou!” he cried. 
But no one noticed him. 

“What do you think it is, Mary?” cried John. 
For he, too, saw in a moment that it was not a 
mere book at which his sister was gazing with 
wide eyes. 

The back, with its green-and-gold leather and 
its label, “Gems from Shakespeare,” matched the 
rest of the set, so far. And the sides were flat 
and cover-like. But the front and top and ends, 
where the edges of leaves would naturally show 
in any proper book, were enclosed in leather, 
so as to make the whole thing into a sort of 
case. 

“It’s a box!” said Mary solemnly. 

John thrust his face up close to the mystery, 
and presently he gave a start. In the end where 
9i 


SURPRISE HOUSE ’ 

you would naturally open the book to read, he 
had spied something strange. 

“Oh, Mary!” he cried; “Look! Here is a little 
keyhole! I believe we’ve found the clue to your 
key that was in the lantern. Have you got the 
key here? Quick, Mary!” 

Mary was shaking the box very gently. 
“Something rattles!” she said. “What do you 
suppose it is?” 

“Oh, do be careful. Maybe it is something 
breakable. Hurry and find out what it is!” 
begged John in the greatest excitement. 

Mary always wore the puzzling key about 
her neck, on the green silk cord which had come 
with it. She now pulled it out, and they car- 
ried the “Gems from Shakespeare” over to the 
table, so that they might see better under the 
lamp. 

Just then there came a knock at the door, and 
both children jumped as if they had been caught 
in doing something wrong. “Mary! John!” 
cried the voice of their mother, “where are you 
both? What in the world are you doing? I rang 
the bell for tea three times ; and I never knew 
you both to be so late before!” 

“Oh, come in, Mother,” said Mary; “do 
come in, quickly!” 


92 


GEMS FROM SHAKESPEARE 

The door opened, and there stood Mrs. Cor- 
liss with the Doctor close behind her. 

“I thought I heard you shouting at one 
another in here, ,, said Dr. Corliss. What’s 
up ? More surprises, eh ? Something better than 
tea?” 

“Caliban looks as if he thought so,” said Mrs. 
Corliss. “ See how his green eyes glitter! ” 

“Oh, yes, Father!” said Mary; “it’s the most 
exciting surprise of all, we think; because Aunt 
Nan has taken pains to make it a part of her 
portrait.” 

“Part of the portrait! What do you mean, 
Mary?” exclaimed her father, advancing into 
the room, and like the rest of them forgetting 
all about tea in the excitement of the occasion. 

Mary showed them the “Gems from Shake- 
speare” with the keyhole in the end, and ex- 
plained how the picture had guided them to it. 
They lighted the lamp hastily, and Dr. Corliss 
had to see just how the “slow unmoving finger” 
of Aunt Nan’s portrait pointed to the shelf in 
the corner where the “Gems” lived. 

“Why, yes!” exclaimed the Doctor, examin- 
ing the picture still more closely than the chil- 
dren had done. “And now that I have a clue, I 
see something more, that you have n’t discov- 
93 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


ered. Look, children! Do you see what this 
book is on which Aunt Nan’s left hand is rest- 
ing? It is a picture of this very same ‘Gems 
from Shakespeare/ I can even make out a 
‘G — S’ on the binding. But I never should have 
discovered it without your clue. I believe there 
is something in it, Mary!” And he looked as ex- 
cited as any of them. * 

“Well, do let’s find out what is in it!” urged 
Mrs. Corliss. “I can’t wait another minute!” 

“Neither can I!” cried John. “Hurry, Mary!” 

Mary took the little key and tried it in the 
keyhole. Yes, it just fitted. She turned it, and 
a lock clicked. 

“Lift the cover!” cried her father. And Mary 
opened what would have been the front cover 
of the book, if it had been a book which she 
was holding. 

Inside the hollow leathern shell which pre- 
tended to be a book was a box; a green wooden 
box, with brass trimmings. Mary lifted the 
cover of this with a rapidly beating heart. And 
what do you think she found ? 

First of all she found a sheet of paper, at the 
top of which was written “Gems from Shake- 
speare.” Below it followed a list of quotations 
from Shakespeare, of a character that made 
94 


GEMS FROM SHAKESPEARE 


them all very much excited; you will readily 
guess why. These are the quotations : — 

“The little casket bring me hither. — More jewels yet! ” 

T. of A. i, ii. . 

“The jewel that we find we stoop and take it.” 

M. for M ., ii, i. 

“Bid my woman search for a jewel.” Cym. ii, iii. 

“And what says she to my little jewel?” 

T. G. of V ., iv, vii. 

Under this sheet of quotations was spread 
a tiny silken blanket of pink. With trembling 
fingers Mary lifted this covering. 

“Gems from Shakespeare,” indeed! The sight 
made them all gasp. There, lying on velvet 
cushions, in little pens, were drops and clusters 
and strings of pearls ; big and little, round and 
oval, creamy and lustrous and beautiful. Piece 
by piece Mary lifted them out of their beds. 
There was a long necklace which would go twice 
around her throat; earrings; brooches; bar- 
pins and bracelets and rings. Some of the pearls 
were set with diamonds, and some with emer- 
alds and sapphires and rubies; some were made 
up into rosebuds with pink coral like that of 
the necklace which Mary had found in the bust 
of Shakespeare. It was a wonderful collection. 
“Well!” cried Dr. Corliss, the first one of the 
95 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


family to get his breath, — “well, Mary! So 
you have Aunt Nan’s jewels, after all. She did 
not sell them for the benefit of her hospital, as I 
believed. She wanted them to go with her be- 
loved library. There can be no doubt that these 
belong to you, and that she wished you to 
have them, if you were clever enough to find 
them. And a pretty little fortune they will prove, 
if I am not mistaken.” 

“Here is a note in the bottom of the box,” 
said Mary, drawing out a sheet of folded paper. 
Nowadays she did not dread Aunt Nan’s notes 
as she had done at first, for she began to think 
of the queer great-aunt whom she had never 
seen as one of her best and kindest friends. 

“ To Mary Corliss ” the note was addressed, 
and it read : — 

These are my jewels, Mary, since you have 
found them — my mere jewel stones. But by 
this time, as I hope, you will have learned the 
greater beauty of my other jewels — the real 
“Gems from Shakespeare.” You will know, if you 
have done as I wished, that books are the best 
treasure of all. And that in poetry — especially 
in Shakespeare’s poetry — are the most precious 
gems to be found in this world. These so-called 
; precious bits of stone and pearl have never been 
of any use to me. I have never worn them. Why 
I have not sold them long ago, I do not know. Per- 
96 



“OH, THEY ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL,” SAID MARY 


















I 







































































* 

























GEMS FROM SHAKESPEARE 

haps because I* wanted to play this one last joke 
with them, for somebody’s benefit. They have 
been waiting here in this secret place for years. 
Now I have played my last joke, and you shall do 
with the “ Gems ” whatever you please. I hope you 
will be a wise girl. 

N. C. 

“What do you suppose Aunt Nan meant by 
that last remark ?” asked Mrs. Corliss wonder- 
ingly. “The pearls are far too splendid for our 
Mary ever to wear. I should hate to see her 
flaunting them, Owen.” 

“So should I!” said Dr. Corliss fervently. 
“They are grand enough for a princess to wear 
at a court ball. What do you say, Mary?” 

“Oh, they are very beautiful,” said Mary, 
“but I don’t want to wear them, any more than 
Aunt Nan did. Father, do you think it would 
be right to sell them? I’d like so much to have 
the money to help us all — and perhaps there 
would be enough so that I could go to college, 
too.” 

“That’s my daughter!” cried her father, 
hugging her proudly in his arms. “That is what 
I hoped you would say. I can see no possible 
reason why you should keep the jewels. Evi- 
dently Aunt Nan did not care for them herself, 
and you have no association with them except 
97 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


through her. They can do you no good, except 
in one way. So my girl will be able to go to col- 
lege, after all, as well as my boy. I am so glad !” 

“Thanks to Aunt Nan — and to Shake- 
speare, v said Mary, patting the volume of “Ham- 
let” lovingly. “If Shakespeare hadn’t given 
the clue I might not have found the gems for 
ever and ever so long.” 

“You might never have found them, Mary!” 
cried John. “Ginger! how awful! They might 
have stayed here all your life; or some old book- 
seller might have got them when you began to 
fill up with new books in place of these old ones.” 

“ Like Aladdin swapping off his old lamp for a 
new one,” smiled Dr. Corliss. 

“No,” said Mary, “that would n’t have hap- 
pened. And I should have found them, any- 
way, sooner or later. For I shall never part 
with one of Aunt Nan’s books. And sooner or 
later I mean to dip into every one, and read it 
through, if I can. I guess Aunt Nan knew that.” 
She glanced gratefully at the portrait over the 
mantelpiece, which seemed to look very happy 
in the lamplight, while the box of gems stood 
open on the table. 


CHAPTER XII 

THE PARTY 

F ROM Aunt Nan’s pearls Mary kept out a 
brooch for her mother and two bar-pins 
for herself and Katy Summers, just alike. The 
rest of the “Gems from Shakespeare” she en- 
trusted to Mr. Wilde, the family lawyer, who 
undertook to sell them for her in the city. 

It was an exciting day for Mary when he told 
her the result of his mission. 

“My dear,” said he, with a twinkle in his 
wise old eyes, “those Shakespeare ‘Gems’ of 
yours made the eyes of the jewelers pop out of 
their heads. You won’t have any trouble in go- 
ing to college when the time comes; if you still 
wish to do so, and if you have n’t already learned 
all there is to be known from that famous library 
of yours. I hold forty thousand dollars in trust 
for you. Are you disappointed?” 

“Forty thousand dollars!” Mary could only 
gasp. And the rest of the family had to pinch 
themselves to be sure they were not dreaming. 
But it was, indeed, a fact. There need be no 
more anxiety or overwork for any of them. 
With care and economy they were provided 
99 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


for until Mary and John should have finished 
college and be ready to earn their living. Dr. 
Corliss could go on writing his book in peace, 
without worrying about bills. Mrs. Corliss could 
have a little maid to help her in the housework. 

And Mary could have a party! 

“ Mother, ” said Mary, when they had recov- 
ered from the first excitement of the news which 
Mr. Wilde had brought them, and when they 
had seen that proud and delighted old gentle- 
man off once more for the city where he lived, 
— “ Mother, I want to have a party, and give 
the other children a good time. I want to cele- 
brate not only our good luck, but the way we 
got it. I want to have a Shakespeare party.” 

“Oh, yes! Let’s have a party!” crowed John. 
“A dress-up party, Mary?” 

“Yes, a dress-up party. Everybody must be 
a Shakespeare character.” 

“I think that is a very nice idea,” said Mrs. 
Corliss. “Next month comes Shakespeare’s 
birthday, the twenty-third of April, which is 
also Saint George’s day. I think it would be 
lovely to have a party and show our Crowfield 
friends that Aunt Nan’s house is going to be 
hospitable and jolly from this time on.” 

They invited all the children in Mary’s class 
ioo 


THE PARTY 


of the High School and in John’s class of the 
Grammar School. Everybody was told that he 
or she must come in a Shakespeare costume; 
and this set them all to looking up quotations 
and reading plays more than had ever before 
been done in Crowfield. 

For days before the party Mary’s library was 
crowded every afternoon with eager children 
who came to ask questions and get suggestions 
about their costumes. Mary and Katy Summers 
helped them as best they could, and Mrs. Cor- 
liss pinned and draped and made sketches to 
show how things ought to look. 

During these busy days Caliban retreated to 
the attic and sulked most of the time, because 
Mary paid him so little attention. But then, 
Mary said his costume was already nearly per- 
fect. So why bother about him? 

They held the party in the library, the big- 
gest room in the Corliss house. And Aunt Nan’s 
portrait looked down on a strange gathering 
of folk out of her favorite books. It seemed 
as if the old lady must be pleased if she knew 
how many persons had become interested in 
Shakespeare through the things which had hap- 
pened and were still happening in her library. 

The door was opened by John dressed as 

IOI 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


Puck, in brown jacket and tights, with little 
wings sprouting out of his shoulder-blades. 

In the library the guests were received by 
Mary in long, glittering, green draperies to rep- 
resent Ariel, with a wand and a crown of stars. 
She kept Caliban close at her side, beautiful in 
a green ribbon collar which bored him greatly. 

Katy Summers stood beside Mary, and looked 
sweet as Titania, in a fairy dress of white tarla- 
tan, with a crown of flowers. Dr. Corliss had 
been made to represent Prospero, with a long 
white beard and gray robes. And Mrs. Corliss 
was one of the witches from “Macbeth.” She 
wore a dress of smoky gray veiling, with a veil 
over her long hair, which concealed her face. 
Some of the children were afraid of her at first, 
for they did not know who she really was; she 
looked very bent and witch-like, and acted her 
part weirdly. 

Ralph and James Perry, two members of 
John’s “Big Four,” came as the two Dromios, 
the clowns in “A Comedy of Errors.” Their 
faces were whitened, and they acted like real 
clowns in a circus, turning somersaults and 
making grimaces. Whatever one did the other 
imitated him immediately, and it kept the other 
children in gales of laughter. 

102 


THE PARTY 


Billy Barton, the fourth member of the “Big 
Four,” made a hit as Nick Bottom, wearing 
the Ass’s head, and braying with comical effect ; 
though as Billy had never heard the strange 
noise which a donkey really makes when it 
brays, he actually sounded more like a sick 
rooster. His long-eared head-piece soon grew 
so hot to wear that Billy took it off and hung 
it over his arm, which rather spoiled the illu- 
sion, but was much more comfortable. 

Then there was Charlie Connors, a very fat 
boy, who dressed as Falstaff, with a fierce mus- 
tache and impressive rubber boots, a plumed 
hat, belt full of pistols, and a sword. There was 
Lady Macbeth, in a white nightgown with her 
hair hanging loose, a dangerous dagger in one 
hand and a lighted candle in the other. But 
when she nearly set fire to the draperies of the 
Ghost of Hamlet’s father, Mrs. Corliss made the 
Lady extinguish her sleep-walking candle. 

Hamlet himself was there, too, in melancholy 
long black stockings, with a waterproof cape 
flung tragically over one shoulder. He carried 
one of Aunt Nan’s ostrich eggs in his hand to 
represent a skull. Indeed, the attic and the 
“Collections” had helped supply many necessary 
parts of this Shakespeare masquerade. 

103 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


There was Cleopatra, in a wonderful red 
sateen robe hauled out of one of the old chests; 
and Shylock, with a long beard hanging over a 
purple dressing-gown of the Early-Victorian 
period. There was Julius Caesar in a Roman 
toga made from some of Aunt Nan’s discarded 
window-curtains, and Rosalind looking lovely 
in a blue bathing-suit and tarn o’ shanter. 

There were also a number of little Grammar- 
School fairies in mosquito-netting robes, and 
many other citizens of places' earthly and un- 
earthly, who seemed to have wandered out of 
the books in Mary’s library. Ariel recognized 
them all, and named them to the company as 
they came in. They squatted about on the chairs 
and on the floor till everybody had arrived. 

And then they gave the play. 

Ever since reading “Midsummer Night’s 
Dream” Mary had wanted to try the delicious 
foolery of “Pyramus and Thisbe.” It required 
no scenery, no other costumes than a shawl or 
two, to cover up what the actors were already 
wearing to represent other characters. It was 
all a huge joke, as the audience soon saw; and 
throughout the scene the children laughed and 
squealed with delight, as Mary had thought 
they would. For the actors must have given the 

i 

i 


THE PARTY 


play as ridiculously as Shakespeare himself in- 
tended ; which was saying a great deal. 

Billy Barton, covering himself with a mack- 
intosh, acted Prologue, and introduced Mary, 
draped as Pyramus, and Katy as Thisbe ; John, 
parted for a time from his wings, and tied up in 
a gray shawl, with a fringed rope fastened on 
for a tail, was the horribly roaring Lion. Ralph 
and Jimmie represented Wall and Moonshine. 

It was a very funny thing to see Wall hold up 
his fingers to make a chink through which Pyra- 
mus and Thisbe might kiss each other. And when 
Lion begged the audience not to be frightened 
by his roar, the children shrieked with laughter. 

• But funniest of all was when Jimmy Perry as 
Moonshine came in with the old tin lantern to 
represent the Moon, and tried to make Cali- 
ban in his green ribbon act the part of the 
Moon Man’s dog. Caliban did n’t like theatri- 
cals. He would not act the part, but lay down 
in the middle of the floor, with his feet in the 
air, and his ears laid flat, ready to scratch the 
Moon Man if he persisted. The Prologue had to 
rush in again and drag him off. 

When the Lion had roared and made Pyramus 
think he had eaten poor Thisbe, so that the 
hasty fellow stabbed himself in grief ; and when 

105. 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


Thisbe had died, too, after sobbing about her 
lover’s “lily lips” and “cherry nose,” the little 
play was over, and everybody in a good humor. 
And the children said, “I didn’t know Shake- 
speare was so funny, did you ? ” 

Then Ariel and Titania, Prospero, and the 
Witch made a magic — they were a mighty 
quartet, you see. John suggested that they were 
really the “Biggest Four.” They waved their 
wands and lifted their hands, and Caliban 
helped with a mighty “Wow!” Then in came 
Puck and the other fairies bearing a huge iron 
kettle, with a ladle sticking out of the top. From 
the kettle rose a cloud of smoke and a sweet smell 
that made Caliban sneeze. The fairies put the 
kettle in the middle of the room, and the four 
magicians waved their wands over it, and moved 
slowly about it singing, — 

“ Double, double, toil and trouble, 

Fire, burn, and cauldron, bubble !” 

When the spell was finished, the smoke died 
away, and the Witch stooped over and ladled 
something out, which she threw into the fire- 
place. “Now, come, everybody!” she cried in 
a cracked voice, “and dip pot-luck out of the 
magic kettle.” 

106 


THE PARTY 


One by one the guests came and helped them- 
selves to a ladleful of pot-luck. The “luck” 
turned out to be a tissue-paper package tied 
with red ribbon. In each package was a little 
present. Sometimes the children did not get an 
appropriate gift; but then they could “swap.” 
Shylock, who was one of the biggest boys, drew 
a Japanese doll, which he exchanged for a jack- 
knife that had fallen to the lot of a little girl- 
fairy. Cleopatra drew a conductor’s whistle, 
and Hamlet had a beautiful bow of pink hair- 
ribbon; so they made a trade. The Ghost was 
made happy with a jews-harp, and the Ass se- 
cured a fan; while fat Falstaff made every one 
roar with laughter by unrolling from the great 
bundle of tissue paper, which he had carefully 
picked out, a tiny thimble. 

After this they danced and played games, and 
made the roof of Aunt Nan’s old house echo 
with such sounds as it had not heard for many 
years. Shakespeare characters flitted from room 
to room, up the stairs to the attic and down to 
the cellar, in a joyous game of hide-and-seek. 
And nobody said “Don’t!” or “Careful!” or 
“Sh!” This was a night when Dream-People 
had their way undisturbed. 

Then they all went out into the dining-room 
107 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


and had supper — sandwiches and chocolate 
and cake and ice-cream. And they all voted that 
they liked Shakespeare very much, and that they 
ought to celebrate his birthday every year. 

Nobody wanted to go home, of course. But in 
time, mere ordinary fathers and mothers and big 
sisters and big brothers, in ugly, common clothes, 
came and dragged away the Shakespeare peo- 
ple, one by one. When they had all, as Prospero 
said, “ melted into air, into thin air,” when even 
Titania had waved her wand and disappeared 
with a kiss on Ariel’s cheek, this happy Spirit 
and Prospero and the Witch, Puck and Caliban, 
were left alone in front of the library fireplace. 

“Was n’t it a lovely party!” cried Puck. 

“I am sure Aunt Nan would have been 
pleased,” said the Witch, looking up at the por- 
trait over the mantel. 

“Just think what a happy time she has given 
us; dear Aunt Nan!” said Ariel. 

“Yes; it was a very nice party, indeed,” ac- 
knowledged Prospero, stroking his long beard 
gravely. “I confess I never expected to get so 
much pleasure out of poetry. But now, to quote 
myself, ‘I’ll to my book.’ Good-night.” And 
he retired to his study. 

“I’m so sleepy!” said John. “Isn’t it too 
108 


THE PARTY 

bad that poor Shakespeare died before they in- 
vented ice-cream ?” 

"Yes,” said Mary, “I wish he were still alive. 
I should like to see him. But when I look about 
the library now I feel as if all the books were 
alive — just full of live people !” 

“They are alive so long as we read them,” 
said Mrs. Corliss. 

“I’m going to keep them alive!” cried Mary. 

“Miaou!” protested Caliban, scratching wear- 
ily at his ribbon. He at least was tired of wear- 
ing his costume. 

“Poor Caliban!” said Mary, untying the rib- 
bon. “Now you can go to sleep comfortably. 
To-morrow I shan't be Ariel any more. But you 
will still be Caliban, for you are the realest of 
us all!” 

Caliban switched his tail, yawned, and jumped 
up into the armchair, where he curled himself 
to sleep. 

Mary had a strange dream that night. Per- 
haps she had eaten too much ice-cream. She 
thought that as soon as the house was quiet, 
Caliban rose on tiptoe and put on little wings 
like those of Puck, and flew right out of the open 
window, away to the land of fairies and shad- 
ows and book-folk. She dreamed that though 
109 


SURPRISE HOUSE 


she hunted and hunted, she never could find 
him again. The dream made her cry, and she 
woke up very early in the morning, still sobbing. 

The dream was still too real! She jumped out 
of bed, flung on her little blue wrapper, thrust 
her feet into her blue slippers, and hurried down- 
stairs into the library. There in the middle of 
the mantelpiece, under Aunt Nan’s portrait and 
close beside the bust of Shakespeare, sat Cali- 
ban. He blinked in grave surprise at her unex- 
pected entrance. 

“Oh, Caliban, dear Caliban!” cried Mary, 
running up to him and hugging him tight. “I 
was afraid you had ‘vanished into thin air/ too. 
I couldn’t have borne that, Caliban. I don’t 
know" what I should ever do without you, pussy 
dear!” 

“Miaou!” said Caliban, fondly kissing her 
cheek. 

And Aunt Nan’s portrait smiled down upon 
the pair. 


THE END 


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